Reading: Hunting or Bust
by Guest 907
Summary: Done with Master Attlon's permission. Four ninja from Konoha and two teams from Beacon are stuck in a room together to look at an alternate universe where Tenten's a fangirl, Kiba's grumpy, Naruto's weird, and Sasuke's actually a nice person.
1. Intro

"Huh?"

Naruto looked around at the room he found himself in. This... wasn't his apartment. It kind of looked like a rec room. Three comfortable-looking couches, some nice armchairs, ottomans, beanbags, coffee tables, microwaves, food and drinks on some tables off to the side, and a really big TV screen on the wall. On the other end of the room were some tables, a dart board, and what looked like some big gaming systems. The dark red carpet beneath his feet was soft and fluffy.

Naruto turned to head back out the door, only to see a blank white wall where the balcony should've been.

 _Alright, let's see what's in here,_ he thought. The tables were all different; one had a fuzzy green surface with different colored balls in a triangle and sticks leaning against it, and another had a bunch of little wooden people lined up on metal bars. He figured he was right about the other things being gaming systems; they all had buttons and bright pictures on them. There were two doors off to the side. A quick inspection revealed a bathroom behind each one. Naruto walked back to the main room.

His door was gone.

Immediately, he clapped his hands together and pulsed as much chakra as he could. Not only did the scene _not_ change, nothing in the room even budged! He tested everything in the room. It felt real. If this was a genjutsu, it was one hell of a good one.

 _There is no genjutsu to break,_ Kurama said in his mind. _I've been flooding your system with my chakra, and nothing is changing. Most likely, there was a seal in your doorway that brought you here._

 _That isn't good,_ Naruto answered.

The sound of a door opening behind him had him turning around.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke took one look at Naruto and the room and activated his Sharingan.

"It's not a genjutsu, Sasuke. Kurama and I can't sense anything."

"Hn." Sasuke held out his hand. "Transfer your chakra into me."

"It's not gonna work," Naruto muttered, but grabbed Sasuke's wrist anyways and poured his chakra into him. After a few seconds, they let go. "See?"

"Where are we?"

Naruto shrugged. "No idea. I got here a few minutes before you did."

Before Sasuke could reply, two more doors opened, one right after the other. They turned to see Kiba, Akamaru, and Tenten looking around in confusion.

"What the hell?"

"We don't know," Naruto said. "But it isn't a genjutsu."

Two more doors opened at almost the exact same time. The shinobi turned to see four people walk through each one, six girls and two boys. The three groups stared at each other for a few short seconds.

 **"Greetings, shinobi of Konoha and defenders of Vale."**

Everyone jumped and spun around to face the… TV screen? Naruto almost thought it was off, but there were white words across the screen that matched what had just been said. Just when Naruto realized that the writing didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before, they were replaced by another line that was read aloud.

 **"The twelve of you have been selected to look into an alternate universe, a universe that was created when your universes collided into each other.**

 **"This new universe has properties of both of your universes, although it obeys the laws of the universe of Remnant with some influence from the universe of the shinobi nations."**

Naruto's brain finally caught up to what it had just heard. "Wait, our universes _collided_? Shouldn't we have felt something?" That sounded dangerous.

 **"The universes are always moving and always colliding. When they do, a new universe is formed. The usual result is a parallel universe where one or more people from the first universe are thrown into the second, but sometimes an entirely new universe is created, such as this one.**

 **"To date, the universe of the shinobi nations has had thirty-one thousand and eight hundred sixty-four recorded collisions with other universes, six hundred and eighty-seven of which were with the universe of Remnant. This meeting makes six hundred and eighty-eight.**

 **"You will find that all language barriers have been dealt with, so please introduce yourselves and use any of the remotes to start the viewing. Feel free to have food and drinks. You will be returned to the exact moment you entered once you are done."**

Naruto stuttered for a moment. "Do we get a choice in this?!"

 **"No.**

 **"Enjoy."**

The screen went black.

Everyone stared at each other for several moments. Eventually the blond girl waved cheerfully. "So hey! I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long, on team RWBY. This is my little sister and team leader, Ruby!"

"Um… yeah… hi." Ruby was clearly uncomfortable with being thrust into the spotlight so suddenly. "I'm Ruby Rose. I lead team- uh- RWBY."

"You have your own team? That's impressive," Tenten complimented her.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Uh… thanks."

"Well, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Euh! That sounded weird!" Naruto made a face as his name came out backwards.

"If you don't mind my asking, what sounded weird? I'm Pyrrha Nikos, by the way," the tall girl with red hair said.

"Saying my name like that," Naruto answered. "It was supposed to be family name first, given name second, but it just came out backwards."

"Kiba Inuzuka. Ugh, you're right, that _is_ weird. This is Akamaru. He's my best friend." Kiba waved his hand at the giant dog by his side, who took the introduction as an invitation to approach the other side and start sniffing them. Naruto idly noted the way the black-haired girl's eyes widened before she screamed and jumped up to the ceiling and grabbed onto one of the lights.

"What the hell is _that_?!"

"He's Akamaru, I just said!"

*Bark!*

"Get it _away from me_!"

Akamaru was indeed sitting right underneath her, enjoying all the petting he was getting from Ruby, Yang, and a girl with awesome orange hair.

"What's your problem with Akamaru?!"

" _I don't like dogs!_ "

While Kiba busied himself with arguing with the girl clinging to the ceiling, Tenten took it upon herself to continue the introductions. "So, I'm Tenten Tamura. Nice to meet you."

A boy with a pink streak in his black hair spoke up. "Lie Ren. Just call me Ren." He pointed at the girl with orange hair, who was still petting Akamaru. "That's Nora Valkyrie."

She waved at them energetically. "Hi!"

"Uh… hi, I'm Jaune Arc." A blond boy with blue eyes stepped forward and nervously extended his hand.

Naruto gave it a firm shake and almost pulled Jaune off his feet. "Woah, sorry."

"Ah, it's fine." Jaune rubbed his shoulder and grimaced. "Yeah, don't worry about it."

He was cut off by a short girl that made his eyes hurt. Seriously, too much white. "My name is Weiss Schnee. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a high-brow nod.

"Yeah, you too." Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Well?" he prompted when Sasuke just stared at him. "I'm not gonna introduce you."

Sasuke stared for another second or two before moving his eyes to the new people in front of them. "Sasuke Uchiha."

By this point, Yang had stopped petting Akamaru and joined their little group. "Nice to meetcha, handsome!" She smiled and winked.

Sasuke just stared some more, and Naruto felt the need to say something about it. "Sasuke, stop staring. It's creepy." Sasuke gave him an unamused look- so it was his normal face, really- and just sat on one of the armchairs.

"Don't mind him," Naruto said to the colorful teens in front of him. "He's never been any fun."

Yang crossed her arms and nodded. "Right, I get it. Blake isn't any fun either." She jerked a thumb at the girl on the ceiling. "That's her. Blake Belladonna. She's my partner." Naruto waved at her; she didn't notice. "So, about this whole different dimension thing… I'm not sure I believe it."

"Neither am I," Weiss said. "It sounds like something out of a bad movie."

Naruto blinked at her almost-challenging tone before shrugging. "Nah, trust me, different dimensions exist. Or different universes, whatever. I've seen them."

Weiss blinked, her eyes wide. "You have?"

"Yeah, they weren't really much, just big worlds of ice or lava, but if they exist in the first place, I guess it isn't too much of a stretch to say that others exist, too." He shrugged. "So, are we gonna see this one or not?"

Everyone made general noises of consent, and they moved to take their seats. Naruto took the armchair next to Sasuke- it was a recliner- Tenten took one of the armchairs with an ottoman in front of it, Kiba and Akamaru took up one of the couches by themselves, Nora dragged Ren and two beanbags between that couch and the one Jaune and Pyrrha were using, and team RWBY all sat on the last couch. Blake put as much distance between her and Akamaru as possible.

Naruto grabbed the closest remote and looked around. "Everyone ready?"

Ruby and Nora quickly grabbed some snacks and rushed back.

"Alright. Here we go." He hit play, and the lights dimmed as three words faded onto the screen.

 **Hunting or Bust**

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, here's my first story. Can't really believe I actually did it. Goddamn, writing is hard.**

 **Sorry if the writing is amateurish. It's never been my strong suit.**

 **Next chapter will probably be up in an hour or two.**


	2. Episode 1: Your Ultimatum

**Your Ultimatum**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **In a small business town in the country of Vale, there was a building where a very important piece of business was being discussed.**

 **And on top of a building of similar size just across the street from it, there were two figures standing on the roof, looking down at their target.**

 **"Hehehe, there it is. I'll give the Schnee Dust Company credit, it was a pretty good idea to conduct a transfer like this somewhere no one would expect people to come and raid it." A cocky smirk grew on the whiskered teen's face, "Too bad that word travels fast towards us."**

"Wait, Schnee Dust Company?" Weiss asked. "Whiskered face?" She glared at Naruto. "Are you stealing from my family's company?"

Naruto shrugged. "I didn't even know your family has a company. Don't look at me."

Weiss narrowed her eyes and turned back to the screen.

 **"Do you really think this is a good idea?" The other man asked while leaning on a crate on the roof, "I mean, we get told to steal some Dust every now and then but this seems like a pretty big take. The risk is high if we get caught. There's a reason Wilsk has a special team of people chosen to steal from the Schnee Dust Company."**

 **"But the cut is awesome if we make it!" The blond said with a cheer in his voice as he tried to persuade his friend. This man was a tall boy, seventeen years of age. He had three thin black lines across each cheek and his canine teeth were slightly more pronounced than most people. He had a light blue long-sleeved undershirt with an orange vest over it. And black pants with orange stripes running down the seams leading to a pair of black boots. Strapped to his tailbone was a small pack of items and attached along the center of his back was a red scabbard with a hook at the end of its hilt. He had little strands of blond hair peeking out from underneath the blue bandana he tied over his head.**

"Wait, why am I wearing a bandana?" Naruto asked.

"Why are you stealing from my family's company?" Weiss growled.

"I don't know!"

"Weiss, maybe we should wait and see what the circumstances are before we come to any conclusions," Pyrrha said. "I doubt Naruto would steal without a very good reason."

Weiss growled and turned away.

 **"Naruto, I think you're purposefully ignoring the part about the guards, security, and the chances of us landing somewhere behind bars." The other man was a young handsome teen standing at about the same height as his blond cohort. He had ebony hair with bangs that lowered down to his chin. He had on a grey shirt and blue pants with tennis shoes that would better accompany him with mobility and escape. Attached to his right hip was a white scabbard with two fore-ends on its side and a small trigger device between them.**

"You too?" Weiss almost snarled.

Sasuke gave her a bored look. "I do what I have to."

 **"Ah, Sasuke, stop bein' so pessimistic man!" Naruto jumped up and threw an arm over his partner-in-crime's shoulder, "Think about it! These Dust Clump things are the biggest sources of unrefined, untapped Dust Crystals in Remnant! We swipe 'em, move 'em, send 'em through the right guys, and we get a serious dent in the debt! Hell, it might be enough to wipe the whole thing! What could possibly go wrong?"**

Everyone groaned.

"Wow, I can't believe you were actually dumb enough to say that," Kiba said.

"Hey!"

"But it looks like you two are pretty deep in debt," Tenten added. "I guess that's why you're stealing from a big company. Is that good enough for you, Weiss?"

Weiss crossed her arms. "We'll see."

 **Sasuke looked at him with a dry glare and shook his head, "You seriously didn't just tempt fate by saying that, did you?"**

 **"Fate shmate-"**

 **"You're making it worse."**

 **"-All that matters is the hard work we put into it."**

"Tell that to your creditors," Weiss muttered.

 **"Yeah well it doesn't really look like you're gonna put that much work into it." Sasuke leaned back and partially unsheathed the sword on Naruto's back with a raised eyebrow, "You only brought Stormer with you?"**

Naruto blinked. "Hey, I don't use a sword."

"Really?" Ruby asked. "Why not?"

"Never needed one."

"WHAT?!"

The shinobi jumped at Ruby's shout.

"But- but- but- how can you not use a weapon?" she whimpered.

"Most ninja don't have a personal weapon unless it's essential to our jutsu or it's just made that well," Tenten answered. "There are specialists, like me, but anything other than a simple sword is rare because of how recognizable it would be."

Ruby frowned. "Well, what do you specialize in?"

Tenten grinned. "Everything."

Ruby gasped, but Yang clamped down on her mouth. "Nope! Later. We have a show to watch."

 **"Hey!" Naruto stepped forward and pulled his sword back into its sheathe before gently petting it like a pet. He responded, "Yeah, of course I only brought Stormer. Bringing Gatling would be overkill. I only take those babies out for the really important jobs."**

 **"And this doesn't constitute as an important job, why?"**

 **"Look." Naruto jumped up on the ledge of the roof and pulled his blade out from behind his back. He spun it in his hand with an experienced move before smirking back at his friend, "It's us. We can handle anything thrown our way."**

Naruto grinned. "Damn straight!"

 **Sasuke just looked up from his position before hanging his head and sighing. He grasped the scabbard and pulled out his sword before stepping up on the ledge as well. He looked over at Naruto, "If this goes belly-up, I'm blaming you."**

 **"As you rightfully should."**

"I'll remember that," Sasuke said.

 **The two teens jumped down from the building and lowered themselves to the street. They maneuvered through the shadows and climbed the side of another building before making their way up to the roof of their target. Sasuke held his sword against the window on the roof and carefully ran the tip in a circle until it cut clean through.**

 **The sliced up window almost fell to the floor a dozen feet down but Naruto grabbed it and pulled it out of the way. Naruto ran his fingers over his sword out and gripped it in anticipation, "You ready?"**

 **Sasuke cleared the way, "You first."**

 **Naruto jumped down from the roof and landed in a crouch before he prepared for battle, "WRAHHHHHHHHH-hey what happened?"**

 **There were a dozen guards laying unconscious on the floor. In the center of the room were several men dressed in black suits, packing up the shipments of Dust and Dust Crystals in large crates to be hauled in two separate vans. And the Dust Clumps were being stored in suitcases and handcuffed to the robbers' wrists. The eight men looked up to see the two teens standing in the center of the room.**

"Hey, those are Junior's guys!"

"The thug you visited when we went out?" Weiss asked.

"Yep."

Nora pumped her fists. "Sweet! Robber pileup!"

 **Sasuke blinked, "Hey, someone else had the same idea."**

 **Naruto...was far less amused at the revelation...**

 **"HEY YOU ASSHOLES, THAT'S OUR SCORE! DROP IT!"**

 **The robbers looked between each other after the blond's exclamation. Five of them pulled out large, collapsible red blades and the last three pulled out sub-machine guns.**

"Sub-machine guns? What are those?"

RWBY and JNPR looked at the ninja in confusion. "Do… do you not have them in your dimension?" Pyrrha asked.

The ninja shook their heads.

"But _howww_?" Ruby grabbed her head. "How can you not have all these awesome weapons?"

"Ignore her," Yang muttered.

"But what to sub-machine guns do?" Tenten asked.

Yang hit play on the remote.

 **Sasuke and Naruto reacted and dove behind a couple of steel barrels while the men started laying fire.**

"They do that."

The ninja watched with wide eyes- or narrowed, in Sasuke's case- at the destruction the guns caused. If those found their way to their world…

 **The two thieves ducked their heads while bullets riddled the steel and space just above their head. Sasuke covered his ears and yelled, "Regretting not bringing the rest of your weapons?!"**

 **Naruto yelled back, "Thinkin' 'bout it!"**

"I'll say it now: This is your fault."

Naruto grumbled but didn't have a snappy comeback.

 **Sasuke used his sword to get a look at the men attacking them. He watched as three men got into one van and started it up, "One of the vans is moving!"**

 **"What?!"**

 **"They're getting away with all the Dust!" Sasuke ducked down as a bullet nearly went through his head. He looked towards the ducking blond, "What's the plan now?!"**

 **Naruto thought for a moment before a lightbulb blinked over his head before being immediately destroyed by a stray bullet.**

Kiba snorted. "Yeah, that describes most of your plans." Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Hey! I outsmarted you in the preliminaries, didn't I?"

"Okay, you had a good plan _once_ five years ago."

 **Naruto sat up a little, "Okay, you stay here and take care of the rest of these guys! And make sure that the van doesn't escape here without you being behind the wheel! I'll chase after the guys that are already running!"**

 **"Okay! Solid plan!" Sasuke nodded before a second passed, "What's your plan for dodging the bullets?!"**

 **"Pfft! You know bullets can't hurt me!" Naruto looked off to the side, "Well, I mean, not for very long at least!"**

 **"I still suggest we try to stop them shooting for a moment so you can run!"**

 **"Then let's try this!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's scabbard and cocked the fore-end closer to the bottom, uncovering a small compartment that opened up to reveal a double-barreled shotgun. Naruto pointed it at the wall and fired off a round, shooting a powerful blast and nearly destroying the whole wall.**

Blake blinked at the familiarity of Sasuke's weapon.

 **The robbers stopped for a moment and all faced towards the wall where they had heard the loud bang.**

 **Naruto flipped out from behind the barrels and jumped over the heads of the robbers. He landed in a crouch before making a mad dash after the van that had rounded the corner.**

 **While the crooks were still surprised by Naruto's sudden departure, Sasuke vaulted over the barrel with one hand on the edge of it. He spun on his knees and tossed the steel barrel at the group of thugs, knocking them all away and on their butts.**

 **While one of the gunners tried to lift himself up again, Sasuke stepped on his gun before kicking him across the face and knocking him out. Sasuke pulled the scabbard out from the strap around his hip and used it as a secondary weapon to block a sword coming down on him. The black-haired thief thrusted his scabbard into the man's hand and spun the blade out of his grip, disarming him.**

 **Sauske kicked him in the stomach, before using an extra push to kick him across the face and block a second sword strike. Sasuke landed on his feet and raised his scabbard to block another blade before they started crossing weapons. Sasuke handled both men expertly with his Vollmond Reflexion in his left hand and the shotgun scabbard in his right.**

"Nice moves, handsome," Yang commented with a flirty smile.

Sasuke grunted.

 **The men were completely dumbfounded while they were held back by the teen's skilled moves. Sasuke pushed the blade off his scabbard, spun his blade in his hand and turned on his feet, cut one thug with the dull edge of his sword, turned around again and brought the hilt down on the hand of the last remaining swordsman. Disarmed, the robber could only watch as Sasuke flipped through the air and planted both his feet into the man's face.**

 **With all visible enemies defeated, Sasuke landed on his feet, sheathed his sword again, and for good measure he cocked the fore-end that was closer to the hilt of his blade.**

 **"D-don't move!"**

Naruto snickered. "You missed one, Sasuke. You're getting sloppy."

 **Sasuke opened his eye and looked back at the fifth and last remaining guy of the group, nervously shaking while holding a sub-machine gun in his hand. He motioned towards the floor, "Put the sword-gun-um-scary weapon thing on the ground besides you! R-right now."**

 **Sasuke blinked before he slowly started to comply. He switched the hand carrying his sheathed weapon and held it so the hilt was facing towards the armed robber. Sasuke slowly kneeled down and started placing it on the floor...before pulling the trigger and firing the sword at the robber at the speed of a bullet.**

 **The hilt slammed into the gun, struck the thug in the center of his sternum, blew him off his feet and landed him a little space on the floor for him to rest unconsciously.**

 **Sasuke looked around at his handiwork before shrugging, "That...actually went better than I thought it would."**

 **And, as if fate was finally catching up, Sasuke heard the sounds of multiple guns behind cocked behind him.**

Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"What?"

"You know what."

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **"THIS IS NOT GOING AS WELL AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD!" Naruto yelled to himself as he jumped over a dumpster and used a lamppost to make a sharp turn around a corner.**

"Story of my life," he muttered.

 **Sprinting after the van for nearly an entire minute now, Naruto finally caught sight of the white vehicle before it turned another corner.**

 **Naruto remembered the layout of the surrounding area and realized that the van would have to pass by two more buildings before being able to get on the freeway. The blond thief sprinted across the street and through an alley before he caught sight of a fire-escape just above his head. With amazing agility, Naruto jumped from platform to platform until he climbed his way up to the roof.**

 **He peered over the edge and watched the white van swerve around the corner and come down the road directly underneath him. He took a step back, prepped himself for the impact with a deep breath, and jumped right over the edge.**

 **The three robbers looked at their haul and checked if they were being followed. The one in the back yelled at the two in the front seats, "What happened?! Who were those two kids?! We didn't plan for this! We should've brought more knockout gas!"**

 **The one driving just fearfully shook his head, "Oh man, Mr. Torchwick is not gonna be happy about this!"**

Ruby gasped. "Roman Torchwick!"

Naruto glanced at her. "Who?"

"He's a prolific thief in our world," Pyrrha explained.

 **"Where's the rest of them?! I don't see the other van!"**

 **"Both of you calm down!" The guy in the passenger seat said as he gripped the suitcase closely to his chest, "We'll drop the Dust off in a safe place, go back to the warehouse, and make sure that-"**

 ***THUMP***

 **"OW!"**

 **The roof of the van indented when Naruto's full weight landed squarely in the center. He rubbed his head before realizing he had landed on his target and laughed, "Sweet!"**

Naruto smirked. "Oh yeah! You can't outrun me!"

 ***Schwip***

 **The tip of a red blade popped out right in front of him after stabbing through the roof. Naruto leaned back as one of the robbers started shooting upwards. Naruto knocked on the roof, "Hey! That's dangerous! Keep doing that and -"**

 ***Schwip***

 **Naruto looked down to see another sword had just barely missed severing his crotch by at least two inches.**

The boys cringed at the near miss.

 **He clicked his teeth and grabbed the sword on his back, "Enough of this!" He started repeatedly stabbing the roof of the car, "STOP! STABBING! AT! ME!"**

Naruto noticed the looks he was getting. "What?"

"You're doing the exact same thing you're telling them NOT to do, idiot," Kiba offered.

"So? They started it!"

"It's still a tad bit hypocritical of you to do that," Pyrrha said slowly.

 **The van started to swerve and ram into the surrounding walls and buildings along the street. Naruto's meddling distracted the robbers and made them miss the turn into the freeway.**

 **The blond struggled to keep his balance and held on tight to the sword stabbed into the van so that he didn't fall off. He realized that the thugs were ramming into the wall to try and knock him off so he prepared for a new course of action. He reached into his small pack and pulled out a thin piece of steel wire. He looped it through the hook at the end of Stormer's hilt and used it to rappel as he jumped onto the side of the van.**

"You just told them off for doing dangerous shit a minute ago!" Kiba yelled. "And now you're doing dangerous shit!"

"I can handle it!"

 **When Naruto tried to grab the wheel of the van, the side door slid open and one of the thugs pulled out his red blade. Naruto let out a quick yelp before moving his feet and legs to dodge the sword from cutting into them.**

 **When one of the man's swings was a bit too wide, Naruto pinned his wrist to the side of the van with his foot. With just a bit more pressure, the man flinched in pain and dropped his sword into the street. Naruto then proceeded to unleash a quick flurry of kicks to the man's stomach, sternum, cheek, cheek, hip, stomach, and chin before he fell back unconscious.**

 **Naruto then tried to reach for the handle of the front door but barely dodged bullets piercing through the window. One of them scraped along his cheek and left a bloody gash before Naruto got fed up and punched the driver in anger, "PRICK!"**

 **But after his little outburst, Naruto and the thug in the passenger's seat realized that their driver was unconscious and no one was left to steer the van. They looked between each other, and then looked forward to see the oncoming lamppost and wall.**

Nora cackled.

"Uh oh."

Kiba snorted. "Nice going. How're your planning skills now?"

 **Naruto pulled on the wire in his hand and dislodged his blade just in time to jump off and roll in the streets. The van broke through the lamppost and slammed into the wall, luckily losing most of its momentum from crashing into the street lamp.**

 **Naruto lifted himself up and looked down to see a bloody gash running up the inside of his right arm and some skin hanging off what remained of his left knee. He hissed and covered his arm, "All things considered, this is pretty light to walk away from."**

"Why didn't your Aura protect you?" Pyrrha asked.

Naruto blinked. "My what?"

"Your Aura," she repeated. At Naruto's blank expression, she elaborated. "The manifestation of your soul? Your shield against the darkness?" Naruto blinked again. "It protects you from harm?"

Naruto glanced at the other shinobi, who only shrugged in response. "We don't have Aura."

The students of Beacon all whipped their heads around at that statement. Jaune scratched his head. "Wait, I thought every living thing had Aura."

"You have to remember that we're from a different dimension," Tenten said. "What's true for you isn't necessarily true for us."

"But this takes place in our dimension, so Naruto should have Aura," Ren countered.

The shinobi shared a quick look before Naruto shrugged in response. "Who knows? Maybe we'll find out later."

 **Naruto saw his blade Stormer lying on the sidewalk with the wire still around his palm. He pushed himself up on his feet and started making his way towards the van to take back the items he was asked to procure. But he heard one of the doors being kicked open and could see the gun-toting thug stumble around the crashed van with the suitcase held under his arm. He aimed his sub-machine gun at the blond, "Stop right there!"**

 **Naruto raised one hand in the air, "Easy man. Your nerves are a little shot after the crash. You need to calm down and watch how you handle that thing."**

 **"We were just supposed to take the Dust to Mr. Torchwick! This was supposed to be a quick in-and-out kinda job!" He motioned towards the wrecked van and the two groaning thugs inside it, "This! This is not in-and-out!"**

 **"Yeah, believe me dude, things never really go the way you plan them."**

 **The thug took a moment to look the blond teen over and noticed the bloodied right sleeve and left knee. He thought this was his best chance to escape, "You're injured too so you can't stop us anymore! So here's what you're gonna do! Turn around, limp away, and never mention this to anyone ever again!"**

 **"That sounds like a fair plan." Naruto nodded with a slight tilt in his head, "But...the thing is...there's a flaw in your logic..."**

 **Naruto ducked and swiftly pulled on the wire in his hand, pulling Stormer off the sidewalk and directly into his palm. He spun the blade so the hilt was facing forward and twisted the handle so the bottom opened up, shooting out a small flat-tip arrow that impacted against the thug's chest and blew him into the side of the van.**

 **Naruto spun his sword in his hand and stood back up before looking at his injuries, smirking at the sight of his now healed flesh, "I take game-breaking injuries like a champ."**

 **The defeated thug groaned on the floor while clutching his chest, feeling like a truck just slammed squarely in his sternum. Naruto sympathized with the man while walking by his side, "Yeah, I know Shades, it hurts like a bitch. But you shouldn't have gotten between me and my mark."**

 **Naruto broke the handcuff and pried the suitcase open to reveal a solid, raw red Dust Clump. He smirked and gently pulled the massive crystal out of the suitcase before smirking and holding it level with his face, "We win."**

 **And then the sounds of dozens of tires screeching and guns cocking reached his ears.**

"Aw, man."

 **He lowered the crystal out of his view and saw there were dozens of cop cars, armed cops, a SWAT van, and a Bullhead surrounding him.**

 **("We have you surrounded! Put the Dust and sword on the ground and then put your hands in the air!")**

 **Naruto was absolutely speechless. Usually he had a snarky comment, quip, or joke to make, but he was just so surprised by the sudden appearance of Law Enforcement that he couldn't say anything.**

 **In the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted Sasuke sitting in the back of a cop car. The black-haired teen was slowly shaking his head, telegraphing that their luck had finally run out and it was better not to fight it.**

 **Naruto nervously waved, "Hey officers! I didn't see you there! But-um-I caught these guys!" Naruto pointed to the thugs in the van, "So, no problems there! Um-oh! I found this too!" Naruto pointed to the Dust in his hand, "Yeah, it looks kinda important so I thought it would be better to keep it safe with the rest of the stuff before you guys came!"**

Weiss scoffed. "Don't even try it."

 **"...Do I get a reward?"**

"No, you do not."

Naruto groaned.

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 ***Thump*Thump*Thump*Thump*Thump*Thump***

 **Nope. Ten minutes of solid head slamming against a metal table and Naruto could safely say this was not just a bad dream.**

"Ten minutes?" Pyrrha asked in worry. "That's… dangerous."

"It's dedication is what it is," Yang piped up.

"Nah, trust me, there's not a whole lot in there to damage," Kiba said.

"Hey!"

 **The whiskered blond just rested his head on the metal table in the middle of the interrogation room in the police station. His eyes immediately locked on to the one-way mirror encompassing an entire section of the wall.**

 **This was not how it was supposed to end.**

"No, this is how it always ends for criminals," Weiss said.

 **He didn't really know how it was going to end, but being arrested and locked up was not his preferred last freedom.**

 **He always had a gut feeling that told him that if he kept going down this path that it was going to end up like this. But he never believed it. They only ever did jobs like this to pay back their debt and feed themselves. They never hurt anyone. Or at least when they did, they knocked them out quick and easy so when they woke up all they had was a bad headache.**

 **And he doubted there was going to be anyone to speak on his behalf. He was out of contact with his dad. He hadn't seen his mom in ages, and even if she did try to help him it would probably end in carnage.**

Naruto perked up at the mention of his parents. From the way this other version of him talked about them, they were still alive…

 **No friends. Amigos. Forced acquaintances. The only guy that Naruto had a real friendship with was probably in another room being questioned.**

 **"Ughhhh...man, Sasuke's gonna be pissed when he sees me again. I can already hear it now..." Naruto cleared his throat before putting a little nasally tone in his voice, "Naruto, I told you this job was going to be too dangerous."**

Sasuke glared at Naruto while the others snickered. "I don't sound like that."

Naruto grinned. "You do in my head."

 **"Hey, it's not my fault some goons from some little backwater gang got the same idea as us! I just know we were gonna get in some serious trouble with Wilsk if we didn't deliver!"**

 **"Well that's what happens when you agree to work with a sociopath. And now you're under arrest and going to jail. I hope it was worth it."**

 **"Y'know Sasuke, in case you haven't noticed yet, you got arrested too! So you should just can the stuck-up asshole treatment and stop lecturing me!"**

 **After a moment, Naruto had a smug look on his face for winning the argument with himself.**

"Ha! Take that Sasuke!"

Sasuke shook his head but didn't bother arguing. You couldn't argue with stupid, after all.

 **Luckily for him, someone walked through the door and halted his slow descent into madness.**

 **The man that walked in was a middle-aged, well-dressed gentleman with unruly grey hair and shaded glasses. He was wearing a black suit, a black vest, a green undershirt and a dark-green scarf. He was carrying a Scroll underneath his armpit and a mug of coffee and a cane in his hand.**

Ruby gasped. "It's Professor Ozpin!" She smiled at Naruto and Sasuke. "Don't worry, you guys'll be fine!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her. "Who?"

"The headmaster of Beacon Academy," Blake said.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah! He visited me at the police station after I stopped a robbery and offered me a place at Beacon. He's probably going to give you the same offer!" Ruby bounced a few times on the couch. "That would be so cool!"

Weiss grumbled. She didn't want two thieves at Beacon!

 **Naruto blinked in confusion at the sight of the man. He didn't look like any policeman or detective he had ever seen before.**

 **The grey-haired man walked over to the empty seat across from Naruto and sat down. He placed his coffee mug on the table and started flipping through the information on the Scroll, "Naruto Uzumaki. Age:17. Sasuke Uchiha. Age:17. Apprehended at two sites where a large quantity of Dust was being stolen and transported. One in a warehouse owned by the Schnee Dust Company. Another, several blocks down the street in a van that crashed into the wall. From the items taken off your person we have a Scroll, a small belt pack containing at least 100ft of steel wire and smoke bombs, and one very sharp blade not usually found on a normal 'petty thief'."**

 **Naruto lifted one foot to place on the table and motioned to his now shoeless feet, "Was it really necessary to take my boots too?"**

 **"Was it really necessary to keep knives concealed in the heels of both boots?"**

"Uh, yeah. Probably."

 **"Hmmm, touché."**

 **"Under most circumstances, it would be written that you two were just passing-by before you tried to take the Dust and make off with it to sell for a good profit. But, after finishing the robbers' treatment before arresting them, they said you two were there to steal the Dust for yourselves. You then proceeded to defeat eight armed thugs by yourselves before the local Law Enforcement came on the scene. Also..." The older man brought up another file on the Scroll, "We have reports that two criminals matching your descriptions have been spotted in surrounding areas, committing Grand Theft Auto and minor counts of Larceny. With assumptions like this and the testimonies of the robbers, there could be a full out investigation on both of your involvements in this case."**

 **Naruto had a scowl on his face while the calm gentleman continued to read off his Scroll and sum the two teenagers' situation up nicely. He asked with some venom in his voice, "So why don't you just arrest us if you have so much faith in the evidence?"**

 **"Because, I'm far more interested..." The man started swiping over the screen and pulled up a video before showing it to the bandana-wearing teen, "In this."**

 **The video started playing and it showed Naruto flipping over cars, up buildings, maneuvering around the van for the best point to attack, and beating the last robber with the weapon hidden in the hilt of his blade. Naruto was confused and raised an eyebrow, "How the hell did you get all that footage?"**

 **The man had a small smile, "You'd be surprised how much cameras can capture when a van starts swerving around madly in the middle of a street."**

"Are there really that many cameras in your world?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, everyone has a Scroll," Yang said.

The ninja shared a glance. "A scroll?"

"Yes, a Scroll." Pyrrha pulled her out and gave it to Kiba. "Do you not have these?"

"Nope," Kiba said as he turned it over. He let Akamaru sniff it a little. "This thing is a scroll? It doesn't look anything like one." He handed it to Tenten.

"It feels so fragile," she muttered.

"They're actually quite durable," Pyrrha said brightly. "At least the ones they give to Huntsmen and Huntresses are."

 **He laid the Scroll on the table as it continued to play the footage, "Now there is no record of you having any formal training with any school, military group, contractor, or militia in the database. Where did you learn to do this?"**

 **Naruto kept his lips sealed tight.**

That got everyone's interest. If Naruto wasn't saying anything, that probably wasn't good.

 **"Well then I'd like to know more about that weapon of yours. It's very well maintained. Sharp, sturdy, and practical for more than one use as you showed in that little demonstration of yours. And also, capable of firing these off rather spectacularly."**

 **The man pulled out and evidence bag and showed it to the boy, revealing a small collapsible arrow with a flat tip that Naruto had fired off after the crash. He examined it closely, "Pressurized, high impact, concussive-point arrows. Strong. Devastating. And in the hand of an expert that knows where to correctly fire them, let's say in the center of the chest, they can be non-lethal but still pack quite a punch. And we found fifty of them compacted into your hilt with a device that shoots them one at a time by row."**

Ruby leaned forward eagerly. "Ooh…"

 **He placed the bag next to the Scroll and leaned back in his chair, "They don't sell swords that fire off rounds like that in most weapon shops. You made this, correct? But not at one of the training academies, I'm guessing-"**

 **"Okay, it's becoming clear to me that you're hinting at something and I'm gonna guess you ain't a cop." Naruto narrowed his eyes, "What do you want?"**

 **The man sat forward and grabbed his coffee mug, "Just for clarity, do you know who I am?"**

 **Naruto shook his head.**

 **The middle-aged man nodded, "My name is Ozpin."**

Ruby bounced and kicked her feet. This was just like what had happened with her!

 **Naruto's eyes slowly started to widen before they almost looked like dinner plates. He sat up a little, "Ozpin? As in Professor Ozpin? Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin?"**

 **"Oh, that's good. At least you know who I am." He raised his mug, "That saves us a little exposition."**

 **"No, actually, I could use a little exposition." Naruto looked over the older man in confusion, "Like what the hell is a guy like you doing questioning some kid in a police station?"**

 **Ozpin finished sipping from his mug and looked at the young blond, "I have made many friends and connections throughout Remnant in my time. Some I can request information from if I so need it. Enough information that I know a good deal about both you and your friend Sasuke Uchiha."**

 **"Pfft." Naruto scoffed and crossed his arms, "You don't know anything."**

Naruto copied his counterpart on the screen. "It's just scare tactics. He can't scare me."

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

Naruto began to sweat a little.

 **"..."**

 **Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh god you know everything."**

Kiba snickered. "Scare tactics worked."

Naruto grumbled.

 **Ozpin just nodded his head. He leaned forward, "I know enough. I know the basic outlines of both of your histories. And considering what I know, not only are you able to work together but that you are actually friends, I am most impressed."**

"Wait, what's so surprising about that?" Naruto asked. "I mean, yeah, Sasuke's kind of an asshole but that never stopped me."

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Guess we'll have to see. We obviously have different backgrounds in this dimension than what we're used to."

 **"Then...if you know our backgrounds..." Naruto inquired, "Why are you here?"**

 **"Because one of the acts I can't stand most in the world is watching people with talents such as yours go to waste like this. This world is at peace but at a moment's notice that could change for the worse. So when I find two very capable young men using their skills so recklessly like this, I take notice. And I don't wish to waste an opportunity to change that."**

 **Ozpin looked at the young man, "I would like for you and Mr. Uchiha to come and join the next arrival of students for the new year at Beacon Academy."**

Ruby gasped. Weiss growled.

 **"I've given Mr. Uchiha the same offer I'm giving you right now."**

"Yes!" Ruby pumped her fists in the air; she was practically vibrating in excitement. "This is so cool! You guys are gonna be at Beacon with us and we're gonna be best friends and I'm gonna see all your weapons and AHHHHH!"

Yang grabbed her sister's arm. "Okay, lay off the sugar, Rubes."

 **Naruto was shocked. Actually, the best term might have been gob-smacked. This was...this HAD to be a dream. Beacon was the dream school of any kid that wanted to become a Huntsmen or Huntress, someone who could change the world. Those stories and hero tales he had heard about as a kid-THOSE GUYS CAME FROM BEACON!**

"Is Beacon really that great?"

"It's one of the four Huntsmen Academies in the world," Pyrrha answered. She considered her wording and her present company. "Or, on Remnant. It's had several famous alumni over the years, and Ozpin is widely considered to be the greatest Huntsman alive. So yes, Beacon is quite great," she finished with a smile.

 **Naruto blinked before reality started to play, "A-are you sure you would want two criminals in your school? Wouldn't we be bad for all the actual heroes? And I...I don't have any of the education needed to enter a prestigious school like that."**

Weiss couldn't agree more. Beacon was a prestigious school, not a rehabilitation center.

 **"It's a school, Mr. Uzumaki, its primary function is to help you learn what you need to know." He shrugged his shoulders, "To be fair, there may be a learning curve that will be difficult to overcome but not impossible. And while you might be mischievous, I wouldn't go so far as to call you criminals."**

"Not criminals, really?" Weis drawled. "The counts of grand theft auto and minor larceny don't mean anything?"

 **Naruto furrowed his brow and seriously contemplated the consequences of what this decision could do.**

 **"We may think differently, and you may be able to think of different solutions than I do, but from my point of view you have three choices ahead of you." Ozpin looked into his coffee mug, "1) Accept my offer, try to overcome the odds, and hope for something good to come out of it. 2) Get locked up for any crimes you may have committed, serve your time, hope for parole, and pray you never meet some of the real bad guys in there. Or 3) Try to knock me out, escape from this station without any weapons or footgear, and stay on the run for the rest of your life hoping you never get caught. Preferably, I'd try to stay away from number three."**

Naruto leaned back and crossed his arms. "I could take him."

"You probably could, but this version of you can't," Tenten countered. "Ozpin's right, Naruto, you shouldn't risk it.

 **He lowered his mug and looked into the whiskered boy's conflicted blue eyes, "I can't promise you a future Mr. Uzumaki. I can't even promise you that I know which choice would be better for you. But I implore you...make a decision that would benefit you and your future."**

 **Naruto blinked...and leaned back into his chair…**

"You're gonna say yes, right? Did you say yes?" Ruby asked as the screen faded to black.

"I don't know." Naruto shrugged. "Maybe?"

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **The intercom rang, ("Students, we will soon be arriving in the City of Vale. And we will be docking at Beacon Academy soon after.")**

 **Naruto had his arms thrown over the railing and was hanging off it like a rag doll as he looked out the window at the beautiful landscape. Instead of his normal jumpy self, the blond felt rather confused about what was going to happen next.**

"Yes!" Ruby cheered.

 **"Geez, you look like you just had all your teeth pulled out with a toothpick and a rusty spoon." Sasuke said as he walked up and leaned against the railing besides the blond, "What's wrong?"**

 **"I don't know. I mean, getting a chance to attend Beacon is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but this...feels weird." He looked up at the black-haired boy, "Does this feel weird?"**

 **"A little." Sasuke agreed with a minor shrug before looking out the window, "But getting a chance in Beacon...I don't think there's anything in the world better than that. Plus, I think anything is better than working on the streets for criminal bosses and gangs to get a quick buck."**

 **Naruto was silent for a moment, "That Ozpin guy knew who we were. At least he said he kinda did. What if he's trying to get leverage over something? What should we do if this goes south?"**

"Ozpin wouldn't do that. He's really nice!" Ruby reassured them.

Naruto looked at her. "Uhhh…" He turned to look at Sasuke, noticing Kiba and Tenten doing the same. Old Man Hokage was really nice too, but he regretted not making some harder decisions. And maybe Ozpin _wouldn't_ try to blackmail them, but that didn't mean someone else wouldn't.

"You'll have to forgive us for being skeptical." Wow, Sasuke was laying on the sarcasm. "Our dimension wasn't so kind."

"Huh?" Ruby didn't get, but a few of her friends did.

Naruto shook his head. "Later."

 **Sasuke thought about that possibility and shook his head, "We won't let it."**

 **A television broadcast about an orange-haired criminal and a Faunus protest gone wrong turned to static before the image of a pretty blonde woman in a white suit, black skirt and cape appeared for everyone around them. She greeted them, ("Hello, and welcome to Beacon!")**

 **Naruto asked, "Who's that?"**

 **("My name is Glynda Goodwitch.")**

 **"Oh."**

 **Glynda continued, ("All of you here are a prestigious few that have proven that you are ready for the next step by attending our academy. This is a time of peace and tranquility that we must not let escape, so we hope to put our futures in the hands of capable Huntsmen and Huntresses such as yourselves. The future road may be hard and perilous, but we have faith that you may not only find strength in yourself but others as well. And until that time has come, we will do whatever possible to provide you with the knowledge and skill needed. We eagerly await your arrival...and welcome to Beacon.")**

 **The hologram disappeared and some of the students started talking between each other. Naruto chuckled, "Geez, if that doesn't put a weight on your shoulders nothing will."**

 **"It probably won't be so bad." Sasuke countered, "There's probably a few people that have it worse off than others."**

 **"Like who?"**

 **"O-oh god! I-I can't!" They looked over to see a boy their age with scruffy blond hair cover his mouth and step away from the window. He stumbled and desperately made a run for a garbage can.**

Jaune groaned.

"Wait, was that you?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah…"

 **Sasuke pointed towards the barfing young man, "Him, for example."**

 **"Fair point."**

 **"We're going to be landing soon. Be prepared." Sasuke patted Naruto's shoulder before walking off to look out a different window. Naruto just stared out as the City of Vale appeared underneath them and Beacon Academy appeared just in their sights.**

 **Here we go. The second chance. A whole new life.**

 **"Oh gross, it got on your shoes!"**

 **"Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross!"**

 **"Ew-Yang, no! Get away! Keep your barf covered shoes away from me!"**

 **"I need your cape! I gotta wipe it off!"**

"What?! Yang!" Ruby bunched up her cloak away from her sister.

"Aw come on, Ruby. I'm your sister!"

"That's not good enough!"

 **"Ew no! You aren't using my cape to wipe off your nasty shoes! I like my cape as is!"**

 **"I'm your sister!"**

 **"My barf covered sister!"**

 **Yep. A whole new life.**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

Naruto pulled up the recliner as the screen faded to black and the lights came back on. "Wow. Talk about exciting."

"I liked the first scene," Yang said. "Lots of fighting and a high-speed chase. How 'bout you, Weiss?" She nudged the girl in white with her elbow. "Still think Naruto and Sasuke are the scum of the earth?"

Weiss crossed her arms. "We'll see. If they can be believed, they only work for criminals to pay off their debts, but I have to wonder how they fell into debt in the first place. I doubt it was by doing good work."

"Can I just say that we aren't criminals?" Naruto asked. "I mean, yeah, I grew up on the streets and I had to pick a few pockets, but other than that we haven't really broken any laws." He very carefully did not mention Sasuke's time outside of Konoha. "So even if you don't like these versions of me and Sasuke, maybe you can still be friends with the ones right in front of you."

"I suppose so," Weiss sighed.

"Cool. So what are Huntsmen and Huntresses?" Naruto asked. "They came up a few times."

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, 173 views in an hour and 45 minutes.**

 **In case anyone is wondering, this is a few months after Chapter 699 for Naruto and after Volume 2 for RWBY. I'm trying to base Naruto on "Ancestral Power" by FirstStory and YaDingus's stories- calm, confident, and easygoing, but not above childish pranks. Sasuke is based on "A Hawk's Plight" by The Obsidian Pen and ShadowofheartsXIII's stories- aloof and a bit irritable, but not a complete stick in the mud. Let me know if I'm getting it right or not.**

 **Kiba and Tenten are harder, since there are so few stories that have anything to do with them, and I haven't read the manga since chapter 700 came out.**

 **Does Blake's reaction to Akamaru last chapter seem over the top? She's wary of a little Corgi, and Akamaru's big enough to ride, so I thought it was appropriate.**

 **psychoticdrow: Yeah, I didn't want it to be too long. Guess I went a bit too far in the other direction. Part of it is the fact that I'm dealing with 12 characters at once, and part of it was that it was from Naruto's point of view. He doesn't notice, but Weiss was going to ask him about the other dimensions he's seen when he says "are we gonna see this one or not." And what exactly are you saying is original? The different universes interacting? Because I literally came up with that on the spot.**


	3. Episode 2: Welcome to Beacon

**A/N: Ugh. I remember telling a few of the people that reviewed that this would be up in two weeks if I was lucky. Obviously, I wasn't lucky. These past three months have been really busy. And it's officially September where I am, so that means I missed the deadline I set for myself on my profile.**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own.**

* * *

"What have you done?" Ren whispered to himself in despair. Ever since Naruto had mentioned that he and his friends were ninja, Nora had been off the walls about finally meeting actual ninja.

 _"But you don't look like ninjas!"_

 _"But that's exactly what a ninja SHOULD look like!"_

And they'd spent the past hour showing off some of their skills, or _jutsu_ , as they called them. Naruto had filled every inch of space- including the walls and ceiling- with clones of himself, pinning Ren between his beanbag and the couch Kiba and Akamaru were using. He'd then demonstrated his transformation _jutsu_ by turning them into copies, normal and gender-bent, of everyone in the room.

For whatever reason, all the female Narutos had been dressed in lingerie with bodies that Yang was openly jealous of.

Tenten had brought out all her weapons for Ruby- _every single one of them_. Kunai, shuriken, tanto, caltrops, knuckle knives, staffs of every kind, naginata, kusarigama, tessen fans, nunchucks, and even a few Ren hadn't recognized, but Ruby had. She'd been disappointed that none of them had the mechanics of Remnant, but that had been overshadowed by her wonder at how Tenten could just seal them into scrolls for easy carry.

Ruby and Nora had had far too much fun examining them.

Akamaru had taken Nora for a ride around the room, jumping off the walls- literally- while Kiba had followed. Blake had ducked whenever they'd gotten too close.

Sasuke had been mercifully restrained in his demonstration, only creating a ball of lightning in his hand. He'd also refused to let Nora absorb it, thankfully.

And now Nora was trying to copy what she'd seen. Ren really didn't want to be the one to tell her that the "ninja aliens," as Nora was calling them, probably had a different physiology that let them do all of that. Personally, he was far more interested in a world without Grimm and what mankind had achieved without the constant threat of destruction. Was there peace without Grimm, or had they turned against each other without a common enemy? What kind of technology did they have? What had they discovered about their chakra? Ren would never know until they got Nora to calm down, and Naruto and Kiba's personalities weren't well suited to that.

He had the distinct feeling that Sasuke was enjoying leaving them to deal with her.

His eyes slowly wandered until they landed on one of the remotes. Nobody had touched them yet, absorbed as they were in Nora's antics. Those that weren't were too polite to start without everyone's attention.

Should he do it? They wouldn't be allowed to leave until they had seen everything this universe had to show them. Who knew how long that would take? It could be hours or even days. Maybe it would be best to-

"Hey, Ren! You're a ninja! I bet you can do this stuff!"

So close.

And so Ren was forced to make odd signs with his hands and try to shape his Aura in ways he wasn't sure were possible. Of his team, he was by far the best with Aura manipulation, and trying to follow the explanations of the shinobi felt like trying to bend his body too far. He was pretty flexible now, but he remembered the early days when he was still trying to touch his toes. No matter how hard he'd tried, his muscles just wouldn't bend that far. Ren was beginning to suspect this was similar, just without the promise of slow progress.

In the end, he'd only managed to tire himself out. Trying to keep his Aura moving in a pattern for any length of time was surprisingly taxing. What it said about the shinobi that they could do it like second nature, he wasn't sure. Maybe they were stronger in general, or maybe chakra was just meant to be moved like that, in a way that Aura wasn't.

"Don't feel too bad about it," Naruto was saying to them, but mostly to Nora. "I guess Aura just doesn't work the same way as chakra."

"Well how do we unlock it?" Nora asked.

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"How do we unlock our chakra?"

"… You can't. You have to be born with it."

"Oh." She turned to Ren. "So why don't you just use your chakra?"

"What?"

"Yeah! You're a ninja, you must have this chakra stuff!"

She didn't even ask if it was possible.

"He doesn't."

Sasuke's patience had finally worn thin, it seemed.

"Huh? What do you mean he doesn't have any? He's a ninja just like you guys!" Nora- of course- wasn't having any of it.

"Unless someone from our universe found a way to yours and had children, it is physically and biologically impossible for any of you to have chakra," Sasuke said. "And no amount of acting like a ninja will change that," he added when Nora opened her mouth. Nora crossed her arms and pouted. Ren pulled her back to their bean bags.

"Kay, everyone ready?" Yang asked. "Good! Moving on!" She hit Play and the lights dimmed.

 **Welcome to Beacon**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Several large airships carefully docked on a platform that partially led off a cliff just outside of the massive school structure that was Beacon Academy. Their thrusters and wings folded into the side and changed into a hovering function so that the oncoming students could arrive.**

"So you guys have things like that everywhere? How do they float?" Kiba asked

"The simplest explanation would be that we use the forces of controlled explosions and direct them towards the ground," Weiss answered promptly. "Once the ships are in the air, we use aerodynamics to keep them there and control their movements."

"Explosions, huh…" Naruto whispered.

 **One airship slowly started opening its doors-**

 **"Oh god! Oh god!" The scraggly blond boy stumbled and forced himself out the door and barely made it to the trashcan. He heaved, "** _ ***BLARGH*!*BLARGH*!**_ **"**

The sound of retching brought Naruto out of his thoughts. "You're still puking? Jeez, how much did you eat?"

"Can we please not focus on that?"

Pyrrha put a hand on Jaune's shoulder in support.

 **The rest of the students calmly made their way out while doing their damnedest not to bring attention to the vomiting young man.**

 **Naruto scratched the bandana on his head and let out a sigh of relief, "I'm glad that's over. That was probably the most uncomfortable trip I've ever had."**

"You think it was bad for you? At least you stayed clean."

 **Sasuke did his best not to show any weakness or gag but still had his nose covered to avoid the smell. He swiped the air around him, "It was starting to get hot and... rancid in there."**

 **Naruto stretched his arms out and looked around at their surroundings. Hundreds of teenaged students making their way out of the ships and towards the huge school building. That was a school? It was like a landmark castle!**

"Woah…"

"Impressive, isn't it." Weiss crossed her arms and smiled. "This screen really doesn't do it justice. You should see it in person."

"Does your dimension have any buildings like that?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't think so," Tenten said. She turned to her friends. "Have any of you seen something like that?"

"Nope."

"No."

Sasuke shook his head.

 **"Okay, so, what do we do now?"**

 **Sasuke looked at a pamphlet he took before the ship departed, "It says that before the orientation in the main presentation hall, we should go and check out our luggage so they can take it to the school." Sasuke reached into his pocket and held his other hand out towards Naruto, "Here, give me your ticket."**

 **Naruto raised an eyebrow as he pulled the ticket out of his vest pocket. He handed it to his friend, "Why?"**

 **"So I can go check off our stuff." Sasuke motioned to the surrounding area, "Why don't you-I don't know-explore. Look around. Socialize. Meet new people."**

 **"Ughhhhhhhh..." Naruto groaned in despair, "But that's awkward, boring, and annoying as hell."**

Naruto frowned in confusion. "What? But I love socializing. And it's a freaking castle! There's gotta be tons to see in there!"

"You should try to find me and my friends from Signal, we had a great time," Yang said with a grin. It disappeared a second later. "Huh. We haven't really kept in touch…"

"Or maybe you can spend time with me and Jaune," Ruby added. "We didn't really have anything to do, so we just kinda walked around."

 **"Then you'd better get started." Sasuke walked away and waved behind his back, "See you later."**

"… Did you just ditch me?"

"Probably."

 **Naruto sighed before standing up straight and looking around at all the new arrivals. So these were the best of the best that had to offer their skills towards being Huntsmen and Huntresses. He had to admit that he was kinda excited at the chance to see what this life had to offer.**

 **Despite the expected free admission to Beacon, both Naruto and Sasuke had to go through separate tests to prove themselves worthy to be accepted. And while the test wasn't the most difficult experience in the world, it certainly wasn't easy.**

 **All of these people passed a test that was the same or at least very similar to the one he did. But unlike him, all of them had studied, practiced, and trained for numerous years to enter a place like this. There were probably a few people here that would give him a run for his money.**

 **No, there might be a few people here that would straight up plant his ass in the ground.**

"Pfft. Yeah right."

 **Naruto grinned at the thought. He couldn't help it, this was getting interest-**

 **"** _ ***BLARGH*!**_ **"**

Jaune groaned.

"You're still puking?!"

 **This was get-**

 **"** _ ***BLARGH*!**_ **"**

"Ugh." Kiba grimaced. "You're lucky you don't have my nose, otherwise you'd be throwing up next to him."

Nora, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious. "Hey Jaune, do you think I could get you to barf this much if I shook you real hard?"

"NO!" That was as much a response as a protest to Nora's suggestion. "No you couldn't!"

 **This-**

 **"** _ ***BLARRRRRRgghhhhhhhhh***_ **, ughhhhhhh, why a big ship? Why?"**

 **Naruto slumped his shoulders and realized that the whole 'enjoying the scenery' thing probably wasn't going to be appropriate with all the barfing and retching happening just a few feet away from him.**

"Took you long enough to figure it out," Yang said. "Like, no offense Jaune, but I would've left you there."

Jaune gave her a flat look. "You _did_ leave me there."

Yang shrugged.

"… I wouldn't have," Pyrrha said softly.

Jaune perked up. "Really?" Pyrrha nodded and smiled. "Thanks."

 **The young man supported himself by holding on to the side of the trashcan while he tried to find his bearings once again. He wiped his mouth, "If-ugh-if I knew we were gonna come here by ship like this, I probably would've preferred walking." He panted for a moment before shaking his head, "That's not true. I don't like walking long distances like that. Makes me uncomfortable."**

 **The blond lad felt someone pat his back and raised his head in surprise. He looked up to see another boy wearing a gold bandana with strange markings on his cheeks standing besides him, "It's all right man, we're all feeling a little nervous. There's no shame in that."**

 **The former retching blond actually felt a little touched that someone would assist him while he was figuratively spewing his guts.**

"Would you really have talked to me after that?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Believe me, I know what it's like to make a fool of yourself in front of everyone and still have to try and make friends with them."

"Yeah…" Jaune. "Thanks."

 **The young man stood up, revealing the black hoodie, white chest plate, and blue jeans he wore with a white scabbard on the side. He gave a weak smile and nodded, "T-thanks. I-um-didn't think anyone would actually pay me any mind after I started throwing up all over the deck."**

 **"Yeah, well, there are others ways to make a worse first impression. Not many but there definitely are." The whiskered blond held out his hand, "I'm Naruto."**

 **"Oh." The other blond took the welcome to shake his hand, "It's nice to meet you Naruto. I'm Jaune. And-well..." Jaune awkwardly motioned to the trashcan, "Don't get me wrong, I'm nervous, but that wasn't actually why I was throwing up."**

 **"It wasn't?" Naruto raised his brow in confusion and tilted his head, "Then why were you throwing up?"**

 **"Because I really can't stand transportation." Jaune deflated a little, "It's a problem I've had since I was a kid. When I was riding in a car. Or a plane. Or a fast roller-coaster. Or even if I think about a bad experience when I-" The color started fading from his face and he started wavering, "O-oh no, not again!"**

"Jaune, you need to learn how to keep your stomach down," Weiss said shortly.

"I know…"

 **Jaune covered his mouth and turned around before he started barfing into the trashcan again. Naruto just stood there in surprise and stared at his new acquaintance as he hurled into the can. The whiskered blond probably wasn't expecting someone like this to be the first person he interacted with in Beacon but hey… some things were just unpredictable.**

 **"** _ ***BLARGH***_ **"**

 **Naruto shook his head, "Geez man, how much did you eat?"**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **"Woahhhhhhhhhhh~!"**

 **Aside from the two blond men outside the ship, most of the other students arriving were using this chance to take in the sight of Beacon and prepare themselves for their future.**

 **This young lady though...**

 **"He was carrying a collapsible staff!**

Ruby gasped. "It's me!"

 **"A-and she's carrying a fire blade with an electric attachment! Oh! Oh! That guy just had a stick and ball but I bet they do something cool!"**

 **The girl that was almost drooling at the sight of weapons was younger than most of the other students arriving in Beacon. Two years younger actually. She had black hair with shades of red along the strands with one section of her hair going all the way down to her chin. She wore a black dress with a skirt and red undertones. Along with a long red cape secured to her shoulders with silver crosses and boots. Her skin was almost pale white and her eyes were a beautiful color of silver. Her name was Ruby Rose.**

 **"Did they make those? O-or maybe they were purchased or passed down!" Ruby was almost bouncing in place at the sight of all the cool new weapons she was seeing for the first time. Her legs started kicking up the ground beneath her, "I've got to ask them where they got them!"**

"Was she really like that?"

Yang gave Kiba an unimpressed look. "You saw how she reacted to Tenten's weapons. What do you think?"

 **"Woah woah woah!" A hand grabbed the top of Ruby's cape and stopped the excited young girl from storming off so quickly.**

 **Ruby slumped her shoulders and looked up at her big sister. Despite how different the two of them appeared, these two really were sisters. Or at least half-sisters. Her name was Yang Xiao Long.**

 **Where Ruby was short, Yang was fairly tall for a girl her age. She had long, messy blonde hair with random curls and cowlicks down the side and she had lilac eyes. She wore a brown vest with a yellow low-cut crop top and an orange scarf wrapped around her neck. She wore black shorts with a half-pleated skirt in the back along with platform boots and around each wrist was a golden bracelet. And while Ruby was still going through the arduous task of puberty, Yang had… finished filling out in certain places.**

Yang looked down at her boobs and smiled. "Heh. Damn straight I have."

Weiss folded her arms and grumbled under breath.

 **Yang placed Ruby back down on her feet and shook her head, "Okay sis, you really need to control that little switch in your head that goes all psycho weapon lover. Do the breathing thing dad taught you to calm down."**

 **"But Yang-"**

 **"Breathe."**

 **Ruby just sighed before she forced herself to take deep breathes in and long breathes out. After a moment, Ruby's momentary exuberance faded and she looked up at her sister.**

 **Yang asked, "Feeling better?"**

 **"I feel lightheaded."**

 **"That's code for better."**

"Um, Yang?" Pyrrha said. "Lightheaded is usually _bad_."

"Oh…"

"Yang!"

 **Yang put her hands on her hips before admonishing her little sister, "Listen, I know you're excited, but not everybody is going to jump at the idea of explaining and examining weapons with a girl that just runs up to them out of nowhere."**

 **"Yeah, that always the problem, isn't it?" Ruby sighed dejectedly, "All these cool new weapons I'm seeing for the first time and I have to talk to strangers and new people to see them."**

 **Yang shook her head, "See, it's talk like that that makes people think you're anti-social."**

 **"I'm not anti-social!" Ruby argued before looking off to the side, "I just… y'know… avoid situations where I have to talk with new people."**

"That sounds like antisocial to me," Naruto said bluntly.

"That is the definition of antisocial," Weiss agreed.

Yang gave Ruby the exact same smile that her counterpart did.

 **Ruby looked up to see Yang's condescending smile aimed at her and glared in return, "Shut up. Besides, I'm happy with just me,** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **,** _ **Ember Celica**_ **, and you; my great, loyal, and trustworthy big sister."**

 **"Yeah~..." Yang wrapped one arm around her precious little sister before scratching her cheek, "About that~..."**

 **"What?"**

"She's gonna ditch me, too."

"I did not ditch you!"

"You left me alone in a new place and didn't come back! What do you call that?"

"Ditching!" Nora yelled.

"It does sound like you ditched her, Yang," Pyrrha said.

"Yep," Naruto added.

Ruby was smiling very innocently.

"I did not ditch you! Blake, back me up here!"

"You ditched her."

"BLAKE!"

 **"My friends from my school are here and we're gonna go look around! Might be gone a while! Probably won't be able to walk around with you!" Yang spun Ruby around before running off to join her friends, "Be safe okay I love you bye!"**

 **"Wait! Yang! What happened?! Where are we?! Where's left and right?! Is this real life?!"**

"Wait." Yang hit Pause and looked around. "Was that a reference to something?"

Jaune tilted his head. "I don't think so."

Nora narrowed her eyes. "Are you _sure_? I feel like that's a reference."

"Hang on." Yang pulled out her Scroll and searched "Is this real life." She looked for several seconds, occasionally swiping up. "Nope. It's not a reference."

"Really?!"

"I know!" Yang was still looking. "It sounds like something that _should_ be a reference, but I can't find anything! No movies, games, or even a song!" She glanced at the ninja. "What about you guys. Does that mean anything in your world?"

Naruto shared a look with the others. "I don't… think so?"

 **Ruby stopped spinning for a moment and held her head to get her balance before she saw Yang run off with a bunch of old friends. Ruby felt betrayed.**

 **She scrunched up her nose and waved her arms, "Fine! You-you go and hang out with your real friends! You know what I'm gonna do now?! I'm going to go cry! You did this Yang! I hope you're happy with yourself! You made your little sister cry! That's gonna stick on your conscience forever!"**

"You're not crying! Stop faking!"

 **Ruby started fake wailing and kept periodically looking over her shoulder while running away, "Wahhhh! Wahhhh! Wa-"**

 _ ***SLAM***_

"Uh-oh." She knew what was coming.

"Ruby, this is why you need to be aware of your surroundings."

"Sorry."

 **Ruby ran into multiple objects, slamming them off their platform and falling forward until she landed face-first in the ground. She lifted herself up and rubbed her nose with little tears in her eyes, "Ow~. What the-"**

 **Ruby looked around at all the white luggage that surrounded her. There were stray pieces of clothing, towels, and several containers with different colored substances in them. Ruby eyes landed on a red one lying by her hand and looked it over before popping its cap, "What's this?"**

 **"What in the world do you think you're doing?!"**

Weiss sighed. This would not be flattering.

 **At the sound of the loud voice being aimed at her, Ruby jumped to her feet in an instant and went rigid like a statue.**

 **The girl standing in front of her had her hands on her hips and a scowl aimed at the young red girl. She stood at about the same height as Ruby, with an off center ponytail containing her long white hair and icy blue eyes that nearly pierced Ruby's soul. She wore a bolero jacket with a red inside collar that led down to blue undertones in her sleeves. Like Ruby, she also wore a skirt and boots to give herself some extra height.**

Ruby and Jaune cringed away from the glare on the screen.

 **The white-haired girl reprimanded the cowering Ruby, "Is this your first action at arriving in a prestigious school like Beacon?! Is this a hobby?! Knocking people's luggage and personal belongings on the floor and then rummaging through them?! Don't you have any decency?!"**

 **The snooty girl took a moment from her yelling to see the black and red-haired girl was holding a Dust vial in her hands. She snatched it back with a sharp edge in her voice, "Were you trying to take these from me?! If you want Dust you should try buying some for yourself! It's not that hard to find! There's a shop selling this stuff on every block!"**

"Don't you think you're overreacting, Weiss?" Tenten asked. "I know it's a lot of luggage, but yelling at her like that isn't helping the situation."

Weiss crossed her arms and frowned.

Yang put an arm around her shoulder and smiled. "Let's just say she was _Weiss_ cold."

Everyone stared flatly at Yang. Nora gave her a thumbs down. "Booo!"

"Was that supposed to be a pun?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah! Whadja think?"

"Don't do it again."

Yang frowned.

 **Ruby was getting confused and disoriented, "I was-um-we-I-Yang was-um...huh?"**

 **"Dust! My Dust! Were you trying to take it?!" She started pointing to the vial in her hand and some of its contents started spreading in the air, "This is Dust with a fire affinity! Do you know what that means?! It means that if it is not contained and moved properly, it can be extremely volatile and dangerous! I don't know how things work in whatever little town you may have been raised in, but to me, that's a very stupid move to pull!"**

"That word keeps coming up," Tenten said. "What is it?"

"Dust?" Weiss asked in response.

"Yeah."

"It's a mineral that serves as our main source of energy. In its raw form, it can be used to manipulate fire, water, lightning, or wind, depending on the type, and they can be combined to create new ones."

"So you just mine rocks that can control the elements? Kiba asked. "And anyone can use them?"

"Anyone with Aura," Ren answered.

 **Ruby's face started to twitch, "I-I-"**

 **"What? Do you having something to say for yourself? If you do, spit it out now!"**

 **Ruby's nose was reacting to all the red Dust in the air around her. And with a mighty blow-**

 **"ACHOO!"**

 _ ***BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM***_

"Hey Jaune, you know how I said there were ways to make a worse first impression? I think this is one of them."

Ruby put her hands to her forehead and groaned.

 **Everyone within several hundred feet looked in the same direction as they saw an explosion and the resulting mushroom cloud raise from the ground.**

Naruto whistled. "Wow. All that from that little container? That's impressive."

Ruby was looking at the ground in depression.

 **Ruby rubbed her nose after the loud and explosive sneeze she just had. She opened her eyes again and saw the damage she caused, covering her mouth in horror, "Oh no."**

 **The white girl that was just yelling at Ruby was now completely covered in black ash and soot. The only thing that was still clean on her were the surprised little blues eyes that blinked open. She wiped the ash off her face to reveal a red face brimming with fury, "You...you..."**

 **"You insufferable little child! You could have killed us both! Do you have any self control or brain power to think of your actions before hand!"**

 **Ruby was shaking a little, "O-oh yeah, well-um...you're not nice and you use a lot of words."**

 **"I don't have to be nice to some random girl combing through my belongings and nearly blowing us up!"**

 **"Hey, you were the one waving that Dust around all willy-nilly."**

"She has a point, Weiss," Pyrrha said. "You didn't check to make sure that the cap was still on."

"I know that now," she muttered.

 **Ruby defended herself after she was sick of being put on the spot by the white-haired girl, "Who are you anyway?"**

 **"I think she's Weiss Schnee."**

 **Before either of them could say anything else, a third voice interjected on their argument.**

 **They both looked over to see a tall girl with wavy black hair going down her back with a bow on top and amber eyes. She wore black boots and stockings that were purple around her feet before turning black when they ended at her thighs. Around her chest was a white undershirt and a black buttoned vest with a short scarf around her neck. In one hand was a book with a finger placed where she left off and in the other was one of Weiss' Dust vials.**

"Hey, Blake, it's you!" Yang said.

"Joy."

 **The black-haired girl looked down at the Dust in her hand, "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest Dust mining companies, Dust selling companies, and energy propellant companies in the whole world."**

 **Weiss felt a sense of smug pride grow while she crossed her arms and looked at Ruby slowly shrink down, "That's right."**

 **"Also very well known for questionable business partners, shady handlings, controversial labor forces, and increasing levels of capital robbery."**

 **"That's righ-Hey!" Weiss threw her arms to her side and yelled in protest, "That is just false persecution and slander!"**

"Is it?" Tenten asked.

Weiss crossed her arms and growled. "No," she bit out. "Not since my father took over."

 **"I don't mean any offense by that." The black-haired girl held out the Dust vial, "I'm just telling you what I've heard."**

 **Weiss was nearly fuming and wanted to argue furiously with both this new girl and Ruby. But after swallowing the lump in her throat, Weiss just glared at the taller black-haired girl before taking the Dust with a swipe of her hand and walking away.**

"Um, Weiss, you forgot your-"

 **Weiss then turned around and walked back towards them, just to place her belongings back on her cart and wheel it away.**

"Nevermind."

 **"Um-Weiss-I'm sorry we met so...explosively!"**

Yang burst out laughing as everyone else frowned. "Good one!"

"It was an accident…"

 **Ruby shouted towards the retreating girl, "I promise to make it up to you, and maybe then you and I can talk...and be friends...and act like I didn't just blow her up." Ruby kept getting quieter until it was just a whisper and she palmed her face, "I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot and I want to disappear."**

 **Ruby decided that she could at least show gratitude to her eleventh hour savior, "Hey, I know that was a weird situation but thanks for-she's already gone."**

 **Ruby watched the cool bow wearing girl walk away and down the path. Ruby deflated even more and just hung her head while a black cloud rained down on her, "Great job Ruby, really. Ten minutes since arriving at Beacon and you've made a rich heiress mad and scared off a super cool girl that had your back. Uhhhhhhhhh..."**

 **Ruby stood their wallowing in her misery…**

"Oh… wow…" Yang scratched her cheek. Weiss was fidgeting between her and Ruby. "I feel like a total bitch, now." She gave a nervous laugh, but it died on her lips when she looked at her depressed sister on the screen. "Uh… sorry I ditched you, Ruby. That probably wasn't any fun for you."

Ruby looked at Yang in surprise. Yang never apologized for anything.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Weiss said somberly. "And I'm sorry I blamed you for the explosion. I shouldn't have been waving it around."

"…Sorry I brushed you off," Blake added. "It was rude, and it must have been discouraging for you."

"Well… I mean…" Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Everything turned out okay. I met Jaune, and we all became a team, so… it's not a big deal." She shrugged.

"It still wasn't cool," Yang insisted. "You want us to treat you to something nice?" Weiss nodded in agreement.

"Mmmm…" Well, if they were going to make a fuss over it… "A day of sweets and cartoons?" She smiled hopefully.

Yang blinked. "You're gonna rot your teeth out, Ruby."

Ruby put on her best puppy-dog eyes. "You offered to treat me to something nice…"

Yang sighed and smiled. "Alright…"

Several of the others smiled.

 **"Wow, you were right Jaune. Someone was in the middle of that explosion."**

 **"Told you."**

 **Ruby lifted her head and looked behind her at the new voices. She saw two taller blond boys standing besides each other, one was wearing a bandana and looking around at the soot surrounding them while the other was facing Ruby.**

 **The boy in armor asked, "Are you okay?"**

"Yes!" Ruby cheered. Naruto was with her and Jaune!

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Pyrrha Nikos was looking around the campus of Beacon and just taking a moment to enjoy the sights. She was probably lost and going in the wrong direction of wherever she was supposed to be heading but she didn't mind in the least.**

"Oh, it's me!"

Nora pumped her fists. "Yes! JNPR time!"

 **She was a pretty girl with her long red hair tied in a pony-tail and strong emerald eyes. She wore a strapless tan v-shirt under a leather top split down the middle. Along with her skirt, boots, and red drapery tied around her waist were pieces of armor on her legs and arms.**

 **Pyrrha swung her arms around a little and enjoyed the fresh air the little grove had to offer before she looked around, "I should probably try and make my way to the main presentation hall. And I should try and find Weiss as well. She's probably looking for me and it'd be nice to see a familiar face here."**

 **While Pyrrha was taking a moment to recognize her surroundings, she heard a noise followed by a dull thud.**

 _ ***Schwip***_

 **Pyrrha almost felt her ears perk up at the sound of metal stabbing into wood. The pattern continued to repeat itself and Pyrrha started following it to try and figure out what was going on.**

 **When Pyrrha came around a corner, there was a girl standing in front of several trees with brown hair done up in two buns at the back of her head. She wore a white blouse with sleeves so baggy they nearly contained both her hands with the symbol of a pinwheel and a circle intersecting it on the back. She wore red puffy pants and blue sandals to complete her wardrobe.**

"Me, too," Tenten said. She leaned back and turned to Kiba. "I guess that means you and Akamaru will show up next."

 **The girl's focus was completely set on the targets in front of her and she raised her hand again, the sleeve dropping to her elbow and revealing a throwing knife held upside-down between her fingers. She narrowed her eyes, exhaled slowly, and threw the knife with a flick of her wrist. The knife imbedded itself directly in the center of the tree, alongside dozens of similar knives with only millimeters of space between each other.**

Tenten frowned. "Mm, that was a slow shot."

 **Pyrrha looked at the action in amazement as the girl took out a second knife to throw. Pyrrha took a step forward and spoke up, "H-hello."**

 **The twin-bun girl looked over to see Pyrrha walking towards her and smiled, "Oh, hello." Without even looking she threw the knife again and struck close to the other knives she had already thrown, "I didn't know I was being watched."**

"That's better."

 **Pyrrha gave a small wave, "Yes. I didn't mean to intrude or break your concentration. It's just I was interested in what was happening over here."**

 **"Oh don't worry..." She threw another knife and hit her target, "It's gonna take a lot more than that to break my concentration."**

"Really, don't worry about it," Tenten said to Pyrrha. "I trained with two of the loudest people I know. A warzone couldn't break my concentration."

"A warzone? Really?" Yang asked.

Tenten nodded. "Really."

 **"I noticed." Pyrrha looked between the girl and the tree and felt her intrigue start to grow, "Can I ask why you're practicing now? Unless you have a grudge with the tree."**

 **"Heh, no, me and this tree don't have any hard feelings towards each other." The knife throwing expert pulled another knife from her sleeve and looked at it for a moment before getting back in her stance, "It's just that I've already checked out my luggage and the orientation isn't happening for awhile so I decided to get some practice in while I could."**

 **Pyrrha looked over at the tree riddle with knives and tilted her head, "Are you sure you need to practice? It looks like you've got it down to a fine art."**

 **"Yeah, well practice makes perfect. And practice after that makes permanent." She took a moment to fiddle with one of her knives with a thoughtful gaze before looking up at the red-head, "Plus I need all the practice I can get to be good with all my weapons."**

 **Pyrrha blinked in surprise, "Wow, did you make multiple weapons to use in the field?"**

 **"Actually..." She looked at Pyrrha and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't have a personalized weapon."**

 **"What?"**

 **"Yeah. As it turns out, I'm not all that great with the whole creation of weapons." The girl started flipping the knife in her hand, "My mom and dad are both hunters that opened a weapons shop to help kids going into training school create their weapons. So of course I took the first chance I could to make a weapon. But, as it turns out, I didn't have the natural hand to make one. I put too much gunpowder in the barrel. I accidentally made the metal too weak to stand up against strikes. I can't even go into how many times I blew up messing with an incendiary change."**

"So all of you made your own weapons?" Tenten asked.

"Well everyone at Signal makes their own weapons." Ruby stood and took out Crescent Rose. "Ta-da!" She twirled it around a few times. "I can't believe I forgot to show you earlier-!"

Yang caught the scythe just under the blade. "Nonononono. We are _not_ getting into this before the episode is done. Put the scythe away."

"But Yaaang!"

"Ruby, you'll geek out for hours and we'll never get out of here." Yang gave Crescent Rose a shake. "Put it away."

Ruby turned her puppy-dog eyes on Tenten. "Tenten?"

Tenten gave her an apologetic look. "We really should wait until the episode is done to talk about this. Sorry."

Ruby slumped and reluctantly folded up Crescent Rose. "Aww…"

"To answer your question, no, we don't all make our own weapons," Weiss said. "I had my rapier commissioned at a forge. It's either-or."

 **She caught the knife firmly before immediately throwing it into the tree and smiling at the red-head, "So I chose a different route. If I couldn't make a weapon then I would master every weapon. Put something in my hand and I can find a way to kick anybody's butt with it. Not to brag or anything."**

 **"Hmm..." Pyrrha hummed in agreement before smiling towards the girl, "I think that is very admirable. Not many people would have the courage to keep trying if they were faced with such a hurdle. That shows strong resolve and character not many would present."**

 **"Thanks." The two girls smiled at each other before the bun-haired girl looked back towards the tree, "I'm Tenten Tamura by the way."**

 **Pyrrha smiled, "I'm Pyrrha Nikos."**

 **"WHAT?!"**

 **Tenten looked towards Pyrrha at the last moment after throwing the knife and missed her mark-**

"WHAT?!"

 **Some random guy screamed, "AH! MY ARM! OH GOD WHY!"**

 **Tenten ran up to Pyrrha with stars in her eyes, "Are you really 'that' Pyrrha Nikos?! Oh man, you really are! I don't know why I didn't recognize you sooner!" Tenten grabbed Pyrrha's hands and started shaking them, "Ms. Nikos, I'm a huge fan! I remember watching your campaign in your second Mistral Regional Tournament! Me and my folks and everyone in my town were cheering for you to win! You were just amazing!"**

"What am I doing?!" Tenten grabbed her head. "I don't fangirl! And I sure as hell don't miss my mark! I never miss! Never! One hundred out of one hundred! I don't lose my cool like that!"

She ignored the looks her last sentence got her.

 **Tenten's grip on Pyrrha's hands was so strong the powerful gladiator almost felt like her arms were going to fall off. She nervously laughed, "T-thank you for your support. But you don't have to call me Ms. Nikos. I'd be honored if you just called me Pyrrha."**

 **"Really?" Tenten was gleaming with joy at being able to meet one of the strongest and coolest girls of their generation. She let go of Pyrrha's hands and coughed into her hand before trying to regain some of her calm, "Well then, Pyrrha, if there's anything you need from me, please don't hesitate to ask."**

 **"I'm glad you said that." Pyrrha stood besides Tenten and took out her pamphlet, "It says that we're supposed to all meet in the main presentation hall, but I'm kind of lost. Could you-"**

 **"Oh, don't worry." Tenten pointed ahead, "I remember the way. I'll show you. Just let me grab my stuff." Pyrrha watched as Tenten stepped over to the tree and started pulling the dozens of knives out of the bark.**

 **Something finally clicked in Pyrrha's head, "Where...where do you keep all of those?"**

 **Tenten looked back and smirked, "Trade secret."**

"That- that's not…" Tenten slumped in her seat. " _I never miss_ …" She wallowed in her misery.

"Is no one concerned about the student Tenten hit?" Ren asked.

Yang waved her hand dismissively. "He'll be fine."

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **"Hey Cardin, I found it! This is where all the luggage is!"**

Yang made a noise. Nora blew a raspberry.

"What?" Kiba asked.

"Cardin's a dick."

"He needs his legs broken."

"He's a bully." Weiss crossed her arms and scowled. "A smug, belligerent, and discriminatory bully in need of an attitude adjustment."

Jaune shrugged. "Eh. He's gotten better."

 **"Finally!" An extremely tall boy with combed back orange hair and wearing armor sighed exhaustively. He marched in, "It's the first day of arrivals! You'd think they could at least put up signs or directions for us!"**

 **Sasuke walked past the much taller and less excited man after he checked both his and Naruto's luggage. Now all that was left was to be there for orientation, dinner, and then bed.**

 **It would probably be a good idea to go find Naruto and make sure he wasn't in any trouble. On the other hand… it was much funnier to watch him squirm his way out of a situation.**

"What?! Sasuke!"

Sasuke just gave Naruto a look of innocent confusion. "What?"

"You're just gonna leave me for the rest of the day?! And you're gonna watch me get into trouble without helping me?!"

Sasuke looked back at the TV. "Yeah."

 **Sasuke rounded a corner and passed by a girl with black hair and a bow. They walked several feet away from each other before they noticed something running down their spines.**

 **The bow-wearing girl almost went rigid and slowly turned her head to look over at the boy standing still just a bit away from her.**

 **Sasuke pulled himself out of the sudden stillness and continued making his way back to the center of the campus.**

 **She looked back and watched the raven-haired boy walk out of sight. What… was that feeling? It felt… cold. Eerie. Threatening. But familiar. Like...**

 **It was an instinct… to stay away from that man.**

"Wait, what just happened there?" Yang looked between Blake and Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged. "Don't know."

"Neither do I."

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **"Hey Ren, how do you think they move and sort all our luggage?"**

Nora perked up. "Finally! My turn!"

 **"I heard that stuff like that is moved by dwarves and gnomes. Do you think Beacon hired dwarves and gnomes to sort through all the new arrivals' luggage? Or maybe they stay here full time and help with the paperwork. Could you imagine little dwarves and gnomes dressed in business suits? Hehe, they'd look so funny. Oh, I hope they don't go through our stuff. I hope they don't go through our underwear. Do you think we could be dealing with underwear dwarves Ren? Or worse, underwear gnomes?"**

Nora stared wide-eyed at the screen as her counterpart rambled. "I never even thought about that…"

The ninja stared at her. "Is this normal for her?" Kiba asked.

Ren sighed. "Yes…"

 **"Nora, I really doubt the staff hired dwarves and gnomes in suits to search through our underwear and luggage."**

 **"You're right." The ginger-haired girl with the mismatched clothes stopped in place for a moment before a bigger smile took its place, "It must be robots!"**

"AHA!"

 **The boy in the green long-sleeved tailcoat just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He only had himself to blame for thinking he could rationalize with his childhood friend.**

Ren copied his onscreen counterpart. Great, he'd have to go through this all over again.

 **Nora had basically been jumping off the walls the entire trip up to Beacon. To be fair she was usually always jumping off the walls but this time she was also very excited about seeing their new school.**

 **Ren decided to try and warn his best friend about making too much trouble, "Listen Nora, this is still a new place and we don't know anyone yet, so it might be better for us to stick together for awhile. At least until after orientation. Then we..."**

 **She was never this quiet for this long.**

 **Ren turned around and saw that his friend was nowhere in sight. He grew concerned, "Nora?"**

 **"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU CRAZY GIRL?!"**

*BARK!*

"Looks like we're up, buddy."

 **Nevermind. Found her.**

 **Nora was looking up at the taller boy with the wild hair, "I thought dogs like to be pet. Don't you want pets?"**

 **"I'M NOT A DOG!" The boy arguing in protest was a tall young man with unruly brown hair spiking up in every direction and very pronounced canine teeth, almost like fangs. His nails were very sharp and down his cheeks were red markings that almost looked like fangs as well.**

Kiba looked at Nora. "Wait, why are you petting me? You should be petting Akamaru."

Nora shrugged. "I dunno. Where is he?"

"He shouldn't be too far from me. We go everywhere together."

 **Nora stayed quiet for a moment before asking, "Then why do you look like a dog? And smell like one too?"**

 **"I just look like this all right! And the dog smell is my dogs back home!" He pulled on his faded green jacket and pointed at it, "They were rolling in my stuff before I went! It's not me!"**

 **"If you like dogs so much then why are you angry?"**

 **"BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE BEING PETTED!"**

 **"Nora!"**

 **"Hey Ren!" Nora waved to her friend before pointing to the fuming stranger, "I met someone new! He likes dogs but doesn't like being pet! But I think I saw him thumping his leg for a moment when I was scratching his hair."**

Kiba glared at Nora. "No, I wasn't."

"I bet you were~."

Ren sighed. "Don't argue with her about it."

 **The boy reached behind him and pulled out a handle that started to mechanically fold out into a red and black tonfa. He snarled his teeth-**

 **"Woah! Woah! Hold on a second!" Ren got between the boy and his adventurous friend and tried to mediate the situation, "Listen, um..."**

 **"Kiba."**

 **"Kiba. My name is Ren. And my friend here is Nora." Ren spoke in a calm manner, "I'm sorry about any offense or misunderstandings that she might have cause you. She's a bit peculiar...and can't really control her enthusiasm. I swear she didn't mean to bring attention to your Faunus tendencies or insult you in any way."**

 **"I'm not a Faunus. I'm just..." Kiba motioned to his whole outer look and shrugged, "Kinda wild lookin' I guess."**

"Hold up," Kiba said. "What's a Faunus?"

The Beacon kids stared. "Do you… not have Faunus?" Weiss asked.

"I don't think so." He turned to the others. "Have you heard of them?" They all shook their heads.

The Beacon kids traded looks with each other before Pyrrha spoke up. "Faunus are… a race very similar to humans, but they have animal traits as well, such as an extra pair of ears, horns, a tail, or fangs. They also generally have good night vision, hearing, and-"

"A good sense of smell?" Kiba cut her off.

Pyrrha nodded. "Occasionally."

Kiba looked back at his friends for a moment.

"That kinda sounds like you, Kiba," Naruto said.

"Yeah…" He turned back to Pyrrha. "You said they're a separate _race_? Because my entire family has claws, fangs, slit pupils, and really good noses. We eat, sleep, and train with dogs, but it's just training and breeding to bring out certain traits. Are you sure Faunus aren't just a specialized family of Huntsmen?"

"No," Blake said a little sharply. "Most Faunus aren't Huntsmen, and they don't all have the same traits. DNA tests have proven that humans and Faunus are entirely different races. They can have children together, and those children can have children with either race, but they aren't the same."

"Huh." Kiba inhaled through his nose a few times, scrunching up his face in disgust at all of Weiss's perfume. He'd thought maybe Blake just had a cat, but if he focused… "So, you're a cat Faunus, Blake?"

Blake froze for several seconds. She nervously flicked her eyes to her team. They looked almost as shocked as she felt. "… what?"

Kiba breathed in again. "Yeah, I noticed the cat smell when I was arguing with you earlier, but there were a lot of new scents, so I didn't spend a lot time on yours. That definitely isn't a human smell."

Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"Kiba, I think you just broke a secret of hers," Naruto said quietly. In the silence of the room, it was easy to hear.

Kiba spun around to face Naruto. "What? What did I say?"

Naruto scratched his cheeks- specifically, his whisker marks. It hit Kiba a second later. "Oh." He turned back to Blake. "So I guess we'll just leave this for later?"

Blake nodded slowly.

"Wait, so then-"

Jaune was cut off by Pyrrha putting her hand on his shoulder and shaking her head.

 **"Oh." Ren thought for a moment before shaking his head and focusing again, "Even so, it was rude and inappropriate for her to...pet you. Nora, why don't you apologize to Kiba and-"**

 **"She's gone."**

"Nora…"

"I got bored!"

 **"What?"**

 **"She left awhile ago."**

 **Ren looked behind him to see that the joyful orange-haired girl was gone. They heard a cheerful laugh and looked up to see Nora balancing on the side of the fountain and kicking the water.**

 **Kiba scratched his chin and patted Ren's shoulder, "Hey man, I'm not trying to be mean or disrespectful, but you might wanna think about putting her on a leash."**

 **Ren rubbed his face and shook his head, "No. Leashes wouldn't work on Nora. The adults tried to keep her tied up like that when she was a kid and she dragged them down the street." Ren looked down at his feet, "She bit through the cone as well."**

Nora giggled. "I remember the cone." She and Ren ignored the looks they were getting.

 **Kiba looked at the girl dancing in the fountain before giving Ren a sympathetic look, "That's a helluva girlfriend to live with."**

 **"It's not like that."**

 **"Pfft, yeah right."**

"It really isn't like that."

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

"Wait, that's the entire scene? Where's Akamaru?"

*Bark!*

"What?" Kiba turned to the dog in question. "Of course not! I'd never leave you anywhere!"

*Whine!*

"I swear! You know I'd never lie to you!"

"Kiba how could you?!" Nora pointed at him in accusation. "If I lived with Akamaru I'd take him everywhere with me!" She jumped onto the couch and gave Akamaru the biggest hug she could. The dog leaned into the hug.

"Just give me a chance to figure it out Akamaru!"

 **"It was so scary. She was loud. And she kept using big words. A-and I don't think she took a second to breathe during the whole thing." Ruby sulked while taking a quick sip from her Udder Satisfaction drink before looking at the two boys sitting with her on the bench, "I'm not overreacting, right?"**

 **"No. I mean, I don't think so." Jaune swished his You're F-ed protein drink around before looking at Ruby with a wry smile, "Then again you did blow her up. So…there's that."**

 **Ruby just hung heard head and lightly sobbed, "Oh geez..."**

 **"Don't worry." Jaune and Ruby looked over at Naruto as he popped open a second can of People Like Grapes Soda and gave them a reassuring smile, "Some girls may act tough and callous but on the inside they just want a friend they can trust. Give it some time and I'm sure you and her will come around."**

 **Ruby brightened up at the idea before looking at Naruto in hope, "You think so?"**

 **Naruto took a quick swig from his drink before looking at the younger girl, "I have no idea. I don't know any girls."**

"Then you shouldn't be offering any advice," Weiss said.

"I'm just trying to help!"

"Your 'help' will only make things worse if you don't know what you're talking about."

 **"Uhhhhhh..." Ruby groaned and hung her head forward until she fell off the bench and laid face-down on the ground.**

 **Jaune looked over at Naruto dryly, "Great job man."**

Naruto felt the need to defend himself. "Don't you think you're being overdramatic, Ruby?"

"Uh, I don't think so?" Ruby scratched the back of her head and turned to her team. "Am I?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, flopping around on the ground is overdramatic."

"Not necessarily."

Everyone looked at Blake. She frowned at being the center of attention but soldiered ahead. "Being so overcome with emotion you can no longer stand can be overdramatic, but if it's done well it can be a very powerful moment."

Naruto blinked. "But this isn't a romance novel. It's real life. And Ruby didn't fall to her knees, she faceplanted onto the ground."

"But you did just tell her that the your advice is meaningless," Pyrrha said. "You raised the hopes of someone who made a terrible first impression on a potential friend and then shot them down."

"Yeah, I think I have to side with Ruby here," Jaune added. "Sorry, Naruto."

Naruto crossed his arms and grumbled.

 **"Sorry. But just give it some time. Problems need to be fixed at their own pace."**

"There! That sounds like good advice to me!"

Tenten smiled. "That was much better, Naruto."

 **Ruby weakly pulled herself back up in her seat and gave a solemn nod, "Yeah, okay." She then looked at the two boys sitting besides her and decided to make conversation, "So...Jaune, Naruto...are you guys brothers?"**

Naruto and Jaune looked at each other, then at Ruby. "We don't look that similar."

 **The two blond boys looked between each other before shaking their heads, "No."**

 **"Oh." Ruby was actually surprised the guys with identical hair and eyes weren't related, "Sorry. It's just you kinda look alike."**

"You can barely even see my hair under that rag."

"Well, it's kinda the same color."

 **"Well as far as I know we aren't related." Jaune continued, "Actually I only met Naruto a little while ago. After we got off the ship."**

 **Naruto sat up a little, "Well I just thought some poor guy literally throwing up his organs right after landing could've used a little help."**

 **Ruby perked up a little and looked at Jaune while giggling, "That was you!"**

Jaune groaned. "Really? You had to tell her?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry, but she probably would've found out eventually."

 **Jaune tried to defend himself, "I-I was a little woozy after getting off the ship! And I don't think I was 'literally' throwing up my organs!"**

"You were."

"No I wasn't!"

 **"Jaune. I was there. I stood next to you. Believe me, you were. In fact..." Naruto held up his can of grape soda, "Take this."**

 **Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Why?"**

 **"To help with your breath."**

 **Jaune's eyes widened and he breathed into his hand to catch a whiff of his breath. He sighed and took Naruto's drink before gulping it all down to give his breath a better scent.**

"Oh, man, I didn't even think about that last time."

"Yeah, I didn't want to say anything, but your breath really stank, Jaune."

 **While Jaune chugged the drink, Naruto looked towards the younger girl, "Hey Ruby, try not to take any offense to this, but aren't you a little too young to be attending Beacon?"**

 **Ruby laughed and nodded her head, "Yep. I'm 15 years old."**

"What's the standard age?" Tenten asked.

"17."

 **The older boys looked at her in amazement with Jaune being the first to comment, "Woah! You got accepted into Beacon 2 years early! That's-that's amazing!"**

 **"Yeah..." Ruby felt sheepish and looked down at her boots, "I guess you could say that."**

 **Naruto noticed the hesitation when she said that, "But...you don't think it's all that great?"**

 **"I think I'm lucky to be accepted into the best school ever. I just didn't want it to happen when I'm so different from everyone else." Ruby started pouring her heart out, "I mean people are gonna see a girl younger than them in the school they worked so hard to get into and they'll think; 'Oh, she thinks she's so special!' Or 'Oh, she's thinks she's so much better than us!' Or even 'Oh, it's that weird girl that got special treatment!'" Ruby sulked, "Do you know how horrible it is to be in a place you haven't earned your place in?"**

Weiss and Jaune shuffled uncomfortably. Weiss because that was exactly how she'd treated Ruby. Jaune because he'd faked his transcripts.

 **Naruto looked forward, "I've got some idea."**

 **Jaune looked down at his drink, "It's not that hard to think about."**

 **Ruby then looked off with a pout, "And even though I feel all confused and freaked out, my darling big sister just left me alone to be with her friends."**

"That wasn't okay, Yang."

Yang tried to defend herself. "Well, you met Jaune. And Naruto this time around. It worked out!"

"It still sucked…" Ruby muttered.

 **"You think that's bad?" Naruto glared forward, "The only real friend I've got jumped at the chance to ditch me so he can 'check the luggage.' And I know he should've been done by now."**

 **"At least you guys have people to ditch you." Jaune hung his head, "I'm all alone in a brand new school...and I threw up everywhere."**

"Ooh." Naruto winced. "Yeah, that's worse than either of us."

 **...**

 **Naruto realized something, "Our first day here sucks."**

 **"Yep."**

 **"No argument there."**

 **The three unfortunate friends all hung their heads as a very large rain cloud poured down on them.**

Naruto crossed his arms. "You see, Sasuke? That's what happens when you just ditch people."

"Yeah, Yang!" Ruby glared at her sister. "See how miserable I am? You did that."

Jaune was about to join in, but then he remembered that he hadn't been friends with his team.

"I said sorry!"

"You'll get over it."

"That's not the point! It's the principle of the thing!"

 **Ruby tried to find a silver lining, "Well, at least I've still got** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **with me. That helps calm my nerves a little."**

Yang snorted. "Classic Ruby move. You bring it up every chance you get whether we want you to or not."

"But it _does_ calm my nerves!"

 **The boys looked up, "What's a** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **?"**

 **"Only the coolest, most awesome weapon in the whole wide world!" Ruby handed Jaune her drink, causing the blond klutz to fumble and nearly drop all three drinks before Naruto took two of them to save the mess. Ruby stood in front of them and took something off her back, "Tada!"**

 **From behind her back, the small girl pulled out a massive red and black scythe the popped into place with a mechanical hiss until its massive blade imbedded itself in the ground.**

 **"Woah!"**

 **"This is** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **! My personal High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe!" She grabbed the bolt and popped a round out of the chamber before smirking, "Watch yourselves guys. She's a biter."**

 **"That thing's like twice your size!" Naruto remarked, stars in his eyes at the absolutely badass weapon the younger girl possessed. Ahhhhhhh...he wanted to hold it so bad~.**

"See? Naruto gets it!"

 **"Yeah. The recoil's so strong I actually use it to bounce around during training."**

 **"That's awesome!" Jaune looked at the girl and her weapon in disbelief before laughing, "I think I know why you were accepted so early now."**

 **"Yeah~, maybe." Ruby stroked her lovable weapon before asking, "What about you guys? What do you have?"**

 **"My weapon's with my luggage." Naruto said with a disappointed tone at not being able to show off his weapon as well, "I didn't want to raise any suspicion by carrying it on me so I packed it with my other stuff. Kinda wishing I didn't do that."**

"'Raise suspicion?'" Yang gave Naruto a look. "It's a Huntsman Academy, no one's gonna look twice at a guy carrying a sword."

Naruto through up his arms. "Well how was I supposed to know that? I haven't been to school in over four years! I don't know what they trust kids with these days!"

"Hey, we're not kids!" Nora yelled.

Tenten agreed. "They aren't any younger than we are. And we were trusted with dangerous weapons in the Academy."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms again.

 **"Well that sucks."**

 **"Yeah." Naruto opened his hands to reveal two little black knives with rounded grips, "All I've got with me are these."**

 **Ruby's and Jaune's eyes widened in shock at how he nearly pulled those out of thin air. Jaune asked, "Where did those come from?!"**

 **Naruto nonchalantly lifted up his foot to reveal the heel of his boots were hollow.**

"Oh yeah, you said that at the end of the last episode!"

 **Ruby looked at Naruto in shock, "You keep two concealed knives in your boots? Like, all the time?"**

 **Naruto just nodded.**

 **Ruby had stars in her eye, "Awwwwww~, that's so cool!"**

 **"Yeah, I know." Naruto said with a smug tone in his voice while he twirled the knives in his hands for extra effect.**

Naruto smirked. Damn straight he was cool.

 **"What are their names?"**

"What?"

 **"Their what now?"**

 **"Their names?" Ruby asked, "They have names right?"**

 **"No. They're just some extra knives I've got hidden. They don't need-"**

 **"Of course they need names!" Ruby said passionately while pointing at Naruto, "Our weapons are an extension of ourselves. Even knives like those are still a part of you! They deserve the same kinda love as your main weapon! It's like picking a favorite child! You just don't!"**

Naruto hit Pause and stared at Ruby for several seconds. "Uh… they're just some spare knives. I have a bunch of them. I use 'em, lose 'em, and buy some more."

"What?!" Ruby gaped at him. "Just… _buy some more_?! You can't- Tenten!" She turned to the older girl. "Back me up!"

Tenten jumped at being put on the spot so suddenly. Especially when… "It's not that big of a deal."

Ruby's jaw dropped. "… What?"

"I don't name any of my weapons. The only weapons that get names in our universe are the really unique ones. Even the ones I have in my scrolls will probably have to be replaced at some point."

Ruby was giving her a look of such betrayal that Tenten hit Play to get away from it.

 **Naruto was silent after being yelled at by the short girl before he looked at the knives in his hands. He thought for a moment...**

 **Right: "This one's** _ **Stabby**_ **."**

 **Left: "This one's** _ **Cutty**_ **."**

 **Ruby looked at him with a flat stare, "Really?"**

Ruby mechanically turned to Naruto, her expression unchanging. He shrugged.

 **He smirked before looking towards the last member of their little gang, "What about you Jaune?"**

 **"Well...nothing special like hidden knives or...knifles." Jaune said in a defeated tone before he reached to his scabbard and pulled out an old war blade. He held it at arm length to show it better, "Mine's just a sword. I kinda wish it could do something cool but nope. Just kinda swish, swish, stab."**

 **Ruby tried to cheer him up, "At least it's doing what swords do best."**

"It's still cool," Ruby said in a dead voice.

 **"Yeah. And there's this too." Jaune pulled out the scabbard on his side before it folded open and became a shield with a double crescent moon symbol on the front, "Yep. My** _ **Crocea Mors**_ **. The hand-me-down of the Arc family for generations."**

 **Naruto shrugged, "Well, that's still pretty cool."**

 **"You think?"**

 **"Yeah." Ruby added with a nod of her head, "That things got history. Personality. All that cool jazz." Ruby chuckled awkwardly for a moment before coughing and smiling, "Plus, it looks good with the whole 'knights of old' look. I think its cool."**

 **Jaune perked up at the compliment, "Aw, thanks."**

 **"Well, some people do need protection." They looked over to see Naruto wipe under his nose and grin, "But I never needed protection with a shield before."**

"Nope. I just get up and hit you harder."

 **Ruby looked at him jokingly, "Oh really? What? You don't get hurt?"**

 **"Oh no. I get hurt." Naruto looked off, "Actually, I get hurt a lot. Almost a very concerning amount..." He smiled, "But I don't usually stay hurt for long."**

 **"What does that mean?"**

 **"Watch." Naruto placed** _ **Stabby**_ **back in his right shoe and held** _ **Cutty**_ **over his palm. He slowly traced the knife's edge over his skin until blood started to seep out.**

 **Ruby and Jaune got squeamish, "Eep(x2)!"**

 **Ruby screamed, "Naruto, what are you doing?!"**

"He's showing off his healing," Sasuke said. "Naruto heals very quickly."

"Yep!"

 **"Give me a sec."**

 **"Um, Naruto, I don't do good with blood." Jaune started to hyperventilate and get woozy, "The sight of blood! The-the smell of blood! Just thinking of blood kinda makes me-oh-oh no-"**

"You don't do well with blood?" Naruto asked skeptically. "You're gonna be seeing a lot of it if being a Huntsman is anything like being a shinobi."

"Uh- I can handle it!"

He didn't convince anyone.

 **"Hold your lunch Jaune, you're gonna want to see this." Naruto held his hand out to show his new friends the fresh cut along his hand. And just as they were growing concerned with whether they made friends with a psychopath, the cut started to quickly seal itself up and heal.**

 **While Jaune and Ruby were nearly slack-jawed at the sight, Naruto waved his hand and smiled, "I have a little thing called Regeneration."**

"See? Just like that."

"That's impressive," Pyrrha said. "Aura speeds up our healing, but it isn't nearly that fast. How do you do it?"

Naruto grinned. "Nothing to it! It's just my Uzumaki constitution and Kur-"

He cut himself off just as Sasuke cleared his throat. They got some odd looks from the Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Tenten caught on first. "I think we should leave this conversation for later."

"You know what?" Naruto said loudly. "Screw it. I have a mass of living chakra inside me that looks like a giant nine-tailed fox. His name is Kurama, and humanity was terrified of him for a long time because he could flatten mountains with a single tail, so they tried to control him, but all they did was make him hate them. And since he's inside me, I got treated like shit for a long time. Whenever I get hurt, his chakra heals me up. That's why I heal so quickly."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

"Is that why you have the whisker marks?" Ruby asked.

"Actually, I have those because Kurama was sealed inside my mom when she was pregnant with me."

Kiba turned to Naruto. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, didn't I tell you guys? My mom was Kurama's second host."

More silence.

Eventually Yang gave a forced laugh. "Well! This has been a nice little sharing session! Let's get back to the show!"

 **Ruby swooned, "Woah~. You can make doubles of yourself?"**

 **"Yeah-wait, what? No. That's not what regeneration does."**

 **"Oh." Ruby tilted her head, "What am I thinking about then?"**

 **Jaune answered, "Duplication maybe?"**

 **"What's regeneration then?"**

 **"It means he can heal from cuts and stuff. Like a lizard."**

 **"Oh..." Ruby was even more impressed, "That's so much cooler."**

 **"Yeah." Naruto tossed his knife in his hand and grinned, "This little condition of mine has saved my bacon more times than I can count."**

 **"What if you lose an arm?" Jaune asked enthusiastically while thinking about the useful power his blond friend had, "Like if it got cut off or something could you grow a new one?"**

 **Ruby asked next, "Oh! Oh! Does a new you grow from the arm?"**

 **"What about a leg?"**

 **"Or your head?"**

 **"Um..." Naruto placed his last knife away before thinking, "I don't know because I've never been in situations like that. And I really don't want to."**

By now, everyone was giving Jaune and Ruby weird looks.

"I can't grow an arm." Naruto waved his right arm. "I found that out the hard way."

And now RWBY and JNPR were staring at him. They didn't know how to respond to that.

Pyrrha gave a try at it. "I- I'm sorry…"

Naruto shrugged. "Eh. It's not so bad."

 **"Well, yeah, I guess."**

 **"Makes sense."**

 **"You probably avoid situations like that."**

 **"I probably don't want to know what it's like if you...lose a head."**

 **After a moment, the three weirdos looked between each other and just chuckled at the direction their conversation had made.**

"Hey! I'm not weird! Jaune and Ruby are the ones who took it way too far!"

Sasuke disagreed. "You're not one to talk about being weird."

Naruto glared at him.

 **Ruby then blinked and looked around, "Hey, aren't we supposed to be going to the orientation right now?"**

 **Naruto stopped laughing with a look of realization over his face, "Oh, I knew there was something I forgot."**

 **"Where is it?"**

 **"I don't know!"**

 **"How could you not know?"**

 **"Why don't either of you know?! It was in those pamphlets they were handing out!"**

 **"Yang took ours!"**

 **"Sasuke took ours!"**

 **"I didn't even grab one! I was too worried about the flight!"**

 **"So none of us know where to go?!"**

 **"No(x2)!"**

 **"Oh my god, this is the worst first day ever!"**

Naruto, Ruby, and Jaune all groaned while everyone else laughed at their expense.

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **In the main structure of the Beacon Academy building was a massive presentation hall. This was used for presentations, a small arena in the other room for training and sparring, and at the moment was being prepared for the orientation of new students.**

 **Naruto, Ruby, and Jaune barged into the large building with just moments to spare. They held themselves up on their knees and were panting after sprinting in from their long distance.**

"We made it!"

 **"S-see, I told ya it was the big center building!" Naruto pushed himself up and wiped his face, "It's always the big building that draws the most attention where the best stuff happens!"**

 **"Right..."**

 **"Yeah, we'll keep that in mind." They all looked around at the crowded space they found themselves in as the students were all conversing with each other.**

 **Jaune almost felt minuscule, "W-wow, this is a lot of people."**

 **Ruby slumped in disappointment, "How am I supposed to find Yang now?"**

 **"Ruby!"**

 **They all looked over to see the taller blonde girl wave her sister over, "C'mon! I saved you a spot!"**

"There I am!"

 **Naruto shrugged, "Well, that was convenient."**

 **"Ohhhhh..." Ruby started rolling her shoulders in place to loosen up, "She's gonna be so sorry when I'm done with her." Ruby started marching over before looking back at her new friends and waving goodbye, "I'll see you guys later."**

 **Jaune and Naruto waved the girl goodbye before the armor clad boy hung his head, "Well there goes the nice, quirky person in our little group of weirdo misfits."**

"Excuse me, Jaune? I'm not weird."

"Yes, you are."

"No one asked you, Sasuke!"

 **Naruto felt insulted, "What? I'm not nice and quirky enough?"**

 **Jaune shook his head, "That's just weird."**

 **"Yeah I know." He patted his new friend's back and walked ahead, "C'mon, this thing's gonna start any moment."**

 **The room was full of students talking amongst themselves to near deafening proportions until the screens over the stage turned on. From behind the stage door, Ozpin and his top teacher, Glynda Goodwitch, walked out on stage. Ozpin took a moment to prepare himself and tapped on the microphone until the sounds resonated through the speakers.**

 **After he was done, he stood there for a moment and just looked out at all the students looking up at him.**

 **("You all know why you are here. You have worked or proven yourselves ready to take the next step in your lives. Through adversity. Through pain. And now that you are all here, you must be thinking that your futures have been set in stone. Well I'm here to tell you...that you are wrong. Coming to this school does not mean that you have reached the end of your journey. In fact, this is nothing more than a stepping stone for what you must decide. Your choices will be harder. Your days will be long. Some of you may not even be able to cope with what's ahead. All we can do for you is try to prepare you for what may happen. Whatever your future holds, this is for certain...")**

 **("Your halcyon days are over from this point on.")**

 **Ozpin stepped away from the microphone and Glynda stepped up, ("Tomorrow will be your initiation. Tonight, you will all gather together in the ballroom to sleep. Be prepared for anything.")**

 **Jaune gulped and leaned over to Naruto, "That seemed kinda...bleak for an initiation speech, right?"**

"Yeah." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Aren't these things supposed to be encouraging or something?"

"That isn't the speech he gave us," Weiss said. "It was more uplifting than that.

Yang gave her a look. "You actually remember it? I was barely paying attention."

Weiss sighed. "I don't remember every word, but I do remember the main point."

 **Naruto just stared ahead at the stage as the words started to sink in.**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Naruto was lying on his sleeping bag and staring up at the ceiling, dressed in his PJ's and nightcap to cover his hair. He sighed and just kept looking at the dim lights overhead, ignoring the guys talking around him and remembering the words Ozpin had spoke. Not just on stage but in the interrogation room as well.**

 **Looks like he wasn't just blowing air when he said all that stuff. He really meant it.**

 **"Well, you definitely look like the teeth pulling experience has subsided." Naruto looked back to see Sasuke in a black shirt and loose gray pants standing over him. He waved to his friend lying on the sleeping bag.**

"Tch. Took you long enough."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Stop whining. I don't have to spend every moment with you."

 **Naruto smiled a little, "Oh look, it's my partner and best friend in the world, Ditchy the Asshole."**

Naruto burst into laughter as Sasuke glared at him. "What?" Naruto said once he could form words again. "It fits!" He started snickering again.

 **"Oh come on, don't take it so personally." Sasuke smiled while defending himself, "Look! You found your stuff right? Your clothes.** _ **Gatling Stormer**_ **. I did what we were asked to do."**

"Okay, I call bull." Kiba felt the need to speak up after so long. "Sasuke doesn't smile like that. The only expressions he knows are glares and smirks."

Sasuke glared at Kiba, thus proving his point.

"Nah, you'd be surprised." Naruto crossed his arms and had a smirk of his own. "He got really smiley when the two of us were lying in that crater waiting for you guys to find us after our last fight."

"Don't bring that up."

 **"Yeah." Naruto turned to lay on his stomach while glaring up at his standing friend, "And then you ditched me for the rest of the day. Which is why you are Ditchy...the Asshole."**

Naruto snickered again.

 **"All right well I can see you're going to be crabby for awhile so I won't even bother." The raven-haired boy looked around at all the boys sleeping on one side and all the girls sleeping on the other. He then looked down at Naruto, "Did you even try talking to someone today?"**

 **"As a matter of fact, I did." Naruto propped himself on his elbows, "I met two people today. They were nice. Cool. Funny. Way better people than you."**

 **"Hmmm..." Sasuke shook his head, "I don't believe you."**

Naruto blew a raspberry at Sasuke.

 **"Oh piss off you prick."**

 **"Hey Naruto!"**

 **Naruto smiled when he heard Jaune's voice call out to him and sat up a little, "There's one of them right now. Sasuke, I'd like to introduce you to Jaune-oh dear god man what are you wearing?"**

 **Jaune came walking over in his full-body pajamas and slippers while Naruto looked up at him in horror. Jaune looked himself over, "What? They're my PJ's. They are warm and comfy."**

 **Sasuke nodded his head, "He seems nice."**

Kiba laughed uproariously, Akamaru barked a few times, Sasuke smirked, and Tenten covered her mouth to hide her snickering. Naruto stared at the image on the screen with his jaw hanging open before he turned to the real-life counterpart. "Jaune! What the hell?!"

Jaune looked hurt. "What?"

"You're supposed to be helping me stick it to Sasuke! You can't do it wearing…" Naruto waved his arm at the screen. "That!"

"What's wrong with them?"

"What _isn't_ wrong with them?" Kiba said as he calmed down. Then he looked at the screen and started laughing again. "I mean- what kind of self-respecting guy wears something like _that_?"

Jaune turned to RWBY and his team. "Is there something wrong with my pajamas?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"They make you look like a fluffy puppy!"

Ruby, Blake, and Ren looked away. Pyrrha laughed nervously. "Um… well, the important thing is that you feel comfortable in them."

Jaune hung his head and groaned.

 **Naruto looked up at Jaune in disbelief and just absentmindedly shook his head, "Jaune, that's the kinda stuff that a little two-year old wears to keep warm. Or-or maybe old people who are trying not to mess themselves. I-I-I'm drawing a blank. It's just so ridiculous."**

 **Sasuke scoffed, "Oh please, like you're one to talk."**

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean, Sasuke!"

 **"What?"**

 **"Naruto, you walk around all day in an orange vest. You are no one to judge people's clothing choices."**

"That's what I mean."

Naruto was offended. "What's wrong with orange?"

"It's gaudy," Weiss said.

"It's bright, it's fun, and it catches your attention!" Naruto crossed his arms. "That's the point."

 **"Oh come on! That's stylish!"**

 **"No. No it's not."**

"Yes it is!"

 **"But...they sold it to me telling me it was."**

 **"Then you were lied to."**

 **"Gale wouldn't lie to me."**

 **"Gale's been lying to your face."**

"No he hasn't!"

 **"Oh Gale, why?" Naruto hung his head sadly at the thought.**

 **While Naruto was sulking, Jaune and Sasuke looked at each other. Jaune held out his hand, "Nice to meet you. I'm Jaune Arc."**

 **Sasuke shook his hand, "Sasuke Uchiha. And I'm sorry to hear that you had to spend the whole day taking care of my friend here."**

 **"Oh no, it's fine. Naruto's a cool guy." Jaune defended his new friend before looking off to the side, "Until-y'know-the part where he cut across his hand with a knife."**

 **"Oh god." Sasuke rubbed the bridge of his nose before he tried to scold his friend, "Naruto, I've told you to stop showing people that. It's disgusting."**

 **"What? It's a conversation starter."**

 **"Conversations that start off like 'Oh god! What's wrong with you, you freak?!' Something like that."**

 **"It still starts a party."**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Yang rested on her side and looked at her baby sister as she sulked into her pillow, "Okay...so let me get this straight...you knocked a girl's luggage over, she started yelling, you blew her up, another girl came and stopped the fighting, they both walked away without saying another word, and then two guys you never met before came to help you?"**

 **Ruby hummed, "Uh huh."**

 **Yang thought for a moment before smiling and shaking her head, "I'm sorry. Don't believe it. I mean I'm happy that you can openly talk with people you just met but I'm finding it hard to believe you blew someone up and made friends in the span of an afternoon."**

 **Yang received a pillow thrown squarely into her face.**

 **"No thanks to you." Ruby pouted before lying back down on her bag, "This never would've happened if you didn't ditch me."**

 **"Oh, it wasn't that bad."**

 **"I was crying Yang!"**

"No you weren't!"

 **"You weren't crying."**

 **"I was gonna start crying Yang!"**

"No you weren't!"

 **Ruby put a hand under her cheek to hold herself up, "I'm just glad Naruto and Jaune were there to help me."**

 **"I still find it hard to believe."**

"Do you not have faith in your sister's social skills?" Tenten asked.

"Nope. She can talk your ear off about guns and blades, but anything other than that and she freezes up."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously.

 **"They're real! Honestly!" Ruby sat up and tried to defend her point, "Jaune's this nice and weird guy who was on the ship with us. He was the one throwing up on us actually-"**

 **"You made friends with Barf Boy?"**

Jaune groaned and covered his face. "Not another one…"

 **"-and Naruto's this guy who can cut himself and-um-he makes bacon."**

"What?"

That was the joint question everyone had asked. Kiba took it a bit further. "How did you come up with _that_?"

"I didn't! Stuff just gets mixed up when it comes out of my mouth!"

 **Yang raised an eyebrow, "He makes bacon when he cuts himself?"**

 **"No! I-I mean he said something about bacon. I-" Ruby huffed and stood up before grabbing Yang's arm and leading her to the other side of the room, "C'mon, it's easier if I just introduce you!"**

 **"Oh. Okay. Well if you want to go over to the boys' side so late at night I'm not one to argue."**

Yang gave Ruby a playful shove and a flirty smile. "Are you growing up already, Ruby?"

"Ew! No!" Ruby stuck out her tongue. "Boys are gross!"

 **The two sisters walked through the ocean of sleeping bags and lazy students until they were in ear shot of a certain conversation taking place...**

 **"I'm telling you I wasn't throwing up for kicks! I just can't handle transportation!"**

 **"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense by it. I just didn't realize that was you."**

 **"You shoulda been there Sasuke. He didn't stop for like ten minutes. It was like a machine. A stinky yet amazing machine." Their boy talk ended when Naruto spotted a familiar face walking over, "Oh hey Ruby, you just missed the fun conversation we were having."**

 **"Hey." Ruby motioned to the blonde besides her, "Naruto, this is my big sister Yang. Yang, Naruto."**

 **Naruto nodded up at the surprised blonde girl, "Hey. You must be the 'back-stabbing big sister' we've been hearing so much about."**

Yang's smile was wiped off her face and she glared at her sister. "Really?"

"You kinda were a back-stabbing big sister…"

 **Yang blinked in honest shock, "Oh wow, you're actually real. That's...unexpected. But really welcome. Yang Xiao Long, at your service."**

 **Naruto gave a small salute, "Naruto Uzumaki, ready to serve back."**

 **Ruby motioned besides them, "And this is Jaune Arc, the one in the funny footsie pajamas."**

 **Yang giggled a little, "That's definitely Barf Boy."**

 **"No-I..." Jaune hung his head and sighed before waving his hand, "Yeah, I'm Barf Boy, nice to meet you."**

 **Ruby pointed to the black-haired boy, "And this is...someone I don't know."**

 **"Sasuke Uchiha." He nodded to the two ladies, "I'm the one in charge of making sure this idiot doesn't cause too much trouble."**

 **Jaune looked hurt, "What did I do?"**

 **Sasuke shook his head, "No, not you. That idiot."**

"Jaune, you shouldn't assume people are talking about you when they say 'idiot,'" Pyrrha said softly.

"Yeah, I know."

 **Naruto scoffed, "Like you ever stopped me from making an idiot out of myself."**

"Yeah! You never did! Ha!" Naruto sat back and crossed his arms with a smirk. Everyone else stared at him for several seconds, waiting for him to realize what he'd just said.

It didn't happen.

 **"Wow Ruby, you were actually telling the truth about these guys. That's great!" She patted her baby sister on the back in pride before she groaned, "Oh god, you really blew someone up."**

 **"I told you!"**

 **Sasuke blinked in confusion, "Wait, someone blew up?"**

 **"You didn't know someone blew up?"**

 **"He wasn't there to find out. Because he's Ditchy...the Ass-"**

 **Sasuke interrupted, "How did someone blow up?"**

Naruto sat back up. "Hey! You can't just cut it off like that!"

"I just did."

 **"It was an accident! I have allergies! When stuff like that gets up my nose-"**

 **"You blew her up with your allergies?"**

 **"No, with Dust!"**

 **"You sneeze Dust?"**

Yang grabbed her head. "Oh my God, how did we get into this conversation?"

 **"No, she was just waving Dust all around and it got up my nose and-"**

 **"Excuse me!"**

"Uh oh."

 **The little group of students all turned to see Weiss with her hair down and wearing a night gown walk over to them with a firm level in her voice, "I'm sorry if you haven't realized yet but there are people here trying to sleep so if you could...YOU!"**

 **Ruby hid her face, "Oh no."**

 **They all looked towards the youngest member, "What's wrong?"**

 **"She's the girl I blew up."**

 **"Oh~(x4)."**

 **Weiss rubbed her face, "I should have known it was you causing such a ruckus."**

 **Yang took a step forward towards the stubborn heiress, "Hey, look, um-"**

 **"Weiss."**

 **"-Weiss, I'm sorry if you had a bad first impression of my sister Ruby. But I promise she isn't as weird as you might have believed her to be."**

Naruto snorted. "Ha! That's a lie."

"Hey!"

Yang threw a bag of chips at him.

 **Naruto hesitantly groaned, "Well-"**

 **"No!" Yang sent him a threatening glare, "Nothing from you!"**

Yang threw a mostly-full water bottle at him.

"Hey! Stop throwing things at me!"

 **"Ugh." Weiss rubbed her temples with a pained groan, "I think I'm starting to get a migraine."**

 **"Well that's a shame gorgeous~. A pretty little Snow Angel like you shouldn't be in such a stressful situation." Jaune slid by her side and spoke with confidence nobody believed he had, "Maybe you need someone like Jaune Arc to help you through the pain~."**

"Please tell me I didn't just do that."

The shinobi were too busy laughing to reassure him. Kiba put his face in his hand. "I- I can't believe you hit on her wearing those stupid pajamas!"

 **Weiss took a moment to look the scraggly blond boy over from head to toe.**

 **"No."**

 **"Okay. Worth a shot."**

 **As they watched the footsie wearing boy walk away, Weiss turned forward again, "Look, I just want to go to bed and prepare for the initiation tomorrow. So get your little apologies out now and...where did she go?!"**

 **Yang looked behind her to see nothing there. She looked around for her little sister before looking at Naruto and Sasuke, "Where'd she go?"**

 **They pointed off to the side where Ruby was making her way over to the wall.**

"So you saw her wander off, and you didn't stop her?" Yang asked.

Naruto shrugged. "No? I mean if I had a chance to get away from someone yelling as loudly as Weiss, I'd take it."

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Ruby, it's rude to walk away in the middle of a conversation."

"Sorry, Weiss…"

 **Ruby sneaked her way past all the other people until she finally arrived at her destination and waved at the girl sitting against the wall, "Hello."**

"Oh, look! More Blake!"

 **The bow wearing girl in a black kimono looked up from her book to see the young girl standing over her, "Oh...aren't you that girl that blew herself up?"**

"That's… not a nice way to greet someone," Tenten said.

Yang slung an arm around Blake's shoulders. "Yeah, she can be even worse than Ruby, but it's by choice."

Blake pushed Yang's arm off.

 **"I blew me and Weiss up but yeah, that's me." Ruby put her hands behind her back and felt nervous talking to the aloof girl, "I never got a chance to thank you for helping me earlier. I didn't even ask you your name. Mine's Ruby...just so you know."**

 **She went back to reading her book, "I'm Blake."**

 **"It's nice to meet you Blake." She noticed the bow wearing girl was still paying attention to her book, "So...what book are you reading?"**

 **Blake's eyes looked up at Ruby before looking back at the pages, "It's a story of a man with two souls. Both fighting for dominance over each other and ownership of their shared body. And both suffering the consequences of the other being in control. 'If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also.' Books about duality like that always interested me."**

Naruto blinked. "Wait, are you seriously reading a book like that?"

"I finished it a while ago, but yes. Why?"

"'Cause before Kurama and I became friends, he'd take over my body if I used too much of his chakra."

Blake stared at him. "Oh. So I guess it would be pretty ironic for you to come across a book like that."

"Yeah."

 **"Oh, that's cool." Ruby felt completely overwhelmed by Blake's superior taste in literature and terminology. What the heck was duality? Was it edible?**

Blake gave Ruby a flat look. "Edible? Really?"

Ruby laughed nervously. "I never read books like that…"

 **Ruby chuckled awkwardly, "I guess I was always more favorable of picture books and stuff. Stories about knights saving princesses and saving the day."**

 **Blake laughed lightheartedly, "Well, most children are raised on books like that so they leave a very strong impression. But you shouldn't let stories like that set your whole ideal about the world. There are far worse monsters out there than dragons and Grimm. And some of them might be walking around us without our even knowing."**

 **"Yeah, I know." Ruby nodded her head with a faint smile on her face, "I know that the world isn't as black and white as we're supposed to believe. But I still think that there are people that can do some good out there."**

 **"Are you sure? There are some pretty bad people in this world that would do whatever they can for their purpose."**

 **"Yeah, but we're still here." Ruby looked around at all the students filling the ballroom, "Everyone that's come here is doing it for different reasons. Different goals. But we're all trying to make the world a better place anyway we can. Even you and I might be able to do something to help better the world."**

"That's what it takes," Naruto said. He smiled at Ruby. "No matter how hard it seems, you just gotta keep pushing forward. It'll be tough, and a lot of times you'll just want to give up. But it's worth it in the end. Trust me, it is."

Ruby smiled back at him. "Thanks, Naruto."

 **"You know, that's a pretty naive and childish way to look at the world." Ruby felt like she failed to make her point before Blake looked up from her book and smiled, "But that doesn't sound so bad when you think about it."**

 **Ruby cheered up and smiled, "I guess we'll just have to see what happens, huh Blake?"**

 **"Yeah, I guess you're-"**

 **"There you are!"**

"Oh, wow. Talk about killing the moment."

 **Weiss came marching over with a scowl directed towards the silver-eyed girl, "You've been bugging me all day and it stops now!**

"You actually have to track someone down to tell them that they're annoying you? That's not how it's supposed to work."

Weiss growled. "Oh, be quiet!"

 **"And you! You were there with us too! I remember what you said!"**

 **"Ruby!" Yang came running over next, "I tried to stop her but she was talking so fast that I got worried and confused!"**

"Yeah, that happens a lot with Weiss."

"Ruby!"

 **"Wait! Wait! Stop everything!" Naruto came running up behind before he breathed out in relief, "I didn't want to miss a moment of this. Okay, continue." This earned him scowls from all girls present and a punch in the shoulder by Yang.**

Yang gathered up all the trash and crumbs on her couch into a ball and threw it at Naruto.

"Dammit! Cut it out!"

 **"You aren't helping in the least!" Weiss turned back towards Ruby and pointed at her, "You need to seriously leave me alone! This situation has only gone from bad to worse with your involvement!"**

 **Ruby begged her, "Please let me make it up to you! I swear I can do good!"**

 **"You said that before and all you've caused me so far is pain and nausea!"**

 **"HOLY CRAP WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!"**

 **"WE'RE TRYING TO GO TO BED!"**

 **"HEY! WE ARE DISCUSSING SOMETHING HERE! SO YOU ALL NEED TO SHUT UP!"**

Weiss buried her face in her hands and groaned.

 **As the entire room gotten into an upheaval and multiple objects started being thrown at each other, Blake sighed and closed her book.**

 **Was it too much to ask for a little peace and quiet? Especially when she was getting to the good part.**

Blake sighed. "Of course it is."

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

Naruto pulled his chair up as the lights came back on. "Wow, you actually managed to start a fight in a room that big? That's impressive."

"No, we didn't. There was no fight last time." Weiss glared at Naruto. "You were the only new factor in this situation, which means that _you_ started a fight in the ballroom all on your own! Not us!"

"Oh. Uh, sorry?"

Weiss huffed and crossed her arms.

"Well, you sure know how to start a party," Yang said. "Looks like we'll get along great!"

Nora pumped her fists. "Yeah! Imagine all the fun we'll have together!"

"Hang on, can we take a bathroom break?" Jaune asked. "I didn't get a chance to go after class. I've been holding it all day."

"Yeah, I really need to go, too," Ruby said. "I'll be right back!" She sped off in a shower of rose petals.

Kiba hopped off the couch. "Might as well go now."

As the others headed to the bathrooms, Naruto got up and walked over to Blake. "So. I'm guessing Faunus don't have it so great, huh?"

* * *

 **A/N: Fun fact, Master Attlon's original chapter is a lot longer than the last chapter even with my Reading.**

 **I'm not really happy with how I ended the opening scene and the Faunus discussion. It's definitely something I'll have to work on. Also I find Nora very difficult to write.**

 **If anyone is wondering why Kiba was so quiet, it's because he was busy either sulking or quietly trying to cheer up Akamaru. I don't imagine Akamaru was very happy about being left behind, and he's Kiba's best friend, so that took up most of his attention.**

 **Did it feel like I gave Naruto substantially more lines than everyone else? I'm pretty sure I did that, and that's something I want to avoid. It doesn't help that I find Naruto relatively easy to write, even if I don't write him exactly as I want. I said I was going to try to base him off of the stories of Ya Dingus and First Story. I think my Naruto is a bit more excitable than theirs.**

 **And finally, I'd like to thank all 113 of you who favorited this story, all 124 followers, and all 15 reviewers, especially Master Attlon because he left two.**


	4. Episode 3: What's a Landing Strategy?

**A/N: *Flops onto bed***

 **Reasons this took so long:**

 **1\. School**

 **2\. Didn't know what to write**

 **3\. Working on my own projects**

 **Hopefully I'll get better at balancing characters as I go on. Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

"No! NO! STAY BACK!"

"HEY! CUT THAT OUT!"

"Blake, he's just a dog! He's not gonna do anything!"

*Bark!*

"YOU HEARD IT YOURSELF!"

"I SAID CUT THAT OUT!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as the girl in black- Blake- cowered in the corner and flailed her sword at Akamaru. Really, you'd think Akamaru was a Tailed Beast with the way she freaked out around the dog. Kiba and the blonde girl entirely too similar to Naruto- Yang, and wasn't that ironic- had intervened, but Sasuke didn't see that ending well. The fact that the hyperactive girl- Nora- had inserted herself into the situation to hug and pet Akamaru made it worse.

Kiba had called Blake a cat Faunus, and the redhead- Pyrrha- had said that Faunus had animal features. If the bow pressed flat against Blake's head was any indication, she had a pair of cat ears underneath that bow. Sasuke thought back a few years; he'd thrown out the cat ears, but Nekobaa and Tamaki probably still had the Paw Encyclopedia. He really should visit them more often.

But returning to his original line of thought, there was a loud and energetic blonde girl named Yang, which Naruto had an affinity for, and a quiet and serious black-haired girl who was part cat, which Sasuke had a connection to. It was only two points between dimensions and not nearly enough to create a theory, but Sasuke still had to wonder if there was a deeper connection between them than the voice had implied. If so, did that make Yang and Blake alternate versions of Naruto and himself? Had one of the dimensions influenced the other, either during the formative process or at some point after? Or were they both influenced by another? So many possibilities. He was tempted to pose the question to the screen and see if the voice would answer, but then he'd have to explain his thought process to the room and he didn't particularly feel like doing that at the moment.

(If he were Nora, he'd start thinking about whether being sister-dimensions made the formation of _Hunting or Bust_ , as they'd taken to calling it, the child of lesbian incest on a metaphysical level, but he wasn't, so he remained blissfully unaware.)

Sasuke looked around the room. The hooded girl, Ruby, was excitedly detailing the specifications of her scythe to Tenten, who looked torn between paying attention and helping Kiba. Naruto had struck up a conversation with Pyrrha and the other blond- Jaune- that the white-haired girl- Weiss had been drawn into. The black-haired boy, Ren, was sitting quietly on his bean bag. He met Sasuke's eyes. Understanding passed between them. They were the ones who had to deal with the antics of the people they called friends. The most reasonable. It was their burden to ensure the consequences were addressed.

Ren looked at a remote, then back at Sasuke. He understood the question in Ren's eyes: Should they just start the next episode, regardless of who was watching?

Sasuke nodded. Ren quickly but discretely pressed Play. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the title- it sounded self-explanatory- before the creak and Naruto's voice caught everyone's attention.

"Wait, why is it starting?!"

Everyone who had moved scrambled to get back to their seats- except Blake, who'd scampered off to another corner the moment Akamaru looked away.

"Rewind, rewind!" Nora was frantically mashing the button into the remote, not caring that she was constantly changing the speed every time she did so. The lights dimmed as she reached the beginning.

"You started it without us, didn't you?" Naruto hissed.

"No," Sasuke said honestly.

 **What's a Landing Strategy?**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **The locker door clicked and slowly started to creak open. Inside was the long red scabbard, five smaller scabbards strapped to it with two handles on both sides and hooks similar to** _ **Stormer's**_ **.**

Ruby gasped. "Ooooh…"

 **Naruto slowly started to grow a malicious grin and pulled his blades out of the locker. He looked them over, "You guys have been getting eager, haven't you?"**

 **The black bandana wearing blond sat down on a bench and started tracing his finger over the scabbards, "That's right boys and girls, we're back in action today. Now I know we've heard all the stories and rumors that this initiation test is supposed to be a hard task not many people can finish. And let's be honest...a few of these guys probably aren't gonna make it. That's right, we've all got eyes on Jaune."**

"What?!" Jaune looked at Naruto in alarm. "You think I'm gonna die?!"

Naruto blinked. Honestly, what he'd seen of Jaune in the last episode hadn't been promising, but even Naruto knew that it would be really rude to say it. So he just shrugged. "Who knows?"

Somehow, Jaune didn't seemed reassured.

"I wouldn't put much stock in his opinion, Jaune," Sasuke said. The other ninja looked at him in suspicion. Sasuke didn't go out of his way to reassure-

"He's talking to inanimate objects; his mental faculties are obviously defective."

There was the jab they were expecting.

"Shut up Sasuke! What's wrong with…" Naruto looked back at the screen, where his paused counterpart was smirking at the swords in his lap. "Uh… what's wrong with what I'm doing?" he finished without any real conviction.

"Dude, you're talking to chunks of metal like they can understand you," Kiba said. Akamaru barked in agreement. "What were you saying about not being weird?"

Naruto sank into his seat. "It's not weird."

"I disagree," Weiss cut in. "It's normal to talk to an inanimate object during a fit of emotion, but not to hold a one-sided conversation with it."

Ruby looked back and forth between the ninjas and Weiss. "Wait, what's weird about talking to your weapon? I do it all the time."

"I rest my case."

 **"But we shouldn't be worried. Not in the least. Because this is a chance to show everyone in Beacon just how awesome you guys are."**

"You're still doing it."

Naruto sank further into his seat.

 **"Naruto-"**

 **"It's been a while since we had to fight Grimms but we haven't forgotten how to do it."**

 **Yang's hand waved in front of his face, "Yoohoo~, Naruto~."**

Yang groaned. "Don't tell me we have another weapons geek! One is enough!"

"I'm not a weapons geek," Naruto mumbled. "Tenten's the weapons geek."

Tenten frowned at him.

 **"Now let's make sure we're all ready." Naruto twisted the hilt and the compartment of** _ **Stormer's**_ **hilt flipped open to reveal dozens of arrows he had placed inside.**

 **Yang took a step back until she stood near Sasuke and shook her head, "Okay, you were right, he's out of it. So this happens a lot I suppose?"**

 **"Not usually. Only when it's something big and he gets excited. I guess that means he's gonna try and take this seriously so that's a plus." Sasuke looked behind them, "I see you have to deal with something similar."**

 **They both looked towards Ruby as she hummed a catchy tune and sharpened the massive blade of** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **. Needless to say, it was an odd sight to see such a cute girl happily grind a whetstone against a scythe twice her size.**

"It's more common than you think," Ren said.

 **Sasuke shook his head and attached** _ **Vollmond Reflexion**_ **to his side. He looked between the two distracted teens, "Should we just leave them until it's time for the test?"**

Ruby began to panic. "What?! You guys are gonna ditch us again?!"

"We won't ditch you," Yang said flippantly.

"I probably will."

 **"Don't worry." Yang cracked her fingers and smirked, "I learned a very special and effective way to bring people like this out of a trance thanks to Ruby."**

"What?! Yang, that's not better!"

 **Yang decided to first try and pull Naruto back to the real world. She stood behind him and waited…**

Naruto snapped himself out of his depression. "Wait, what's she gonna-"

 ***SMACK***

Naruto glared at Yang. She smiled back.

 **"OW!" Naruto yelped and held the back of his head after Yang harshly punched it with her gauntlet. She waved and gave him a cheeky smile as Naruto hissed at the pain, "Geez, I think you cracked my skull."**

 **"Well you're the guy with the miracle band-aid powers so I'm not all that worried." Yang walked over to Ruby, "Her on the other hand-"**

"Nonononono-!"

 ***SMACK***

"Yang!"

 **"AHHHHHHH-WHYYYYYYYY?!" Ruby fell off the bench and started clutching her head when she felt the familiar smack resonate through her skull.**

 **Yang placed her hands on her hips and nodded triumphantly, "Well, I think that worked."**

Kiba, Tenten, Pyrrha, and Jaune stared at the screen in horror.

"Is that normal?!" Tenten asked.

"Yang, that is abusive and dangerous behavior!"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Yang, you are several times stronger than the average human," Pyrrha scolded. "A punch that hard from someone like you will take out a noticeable chunk of someone's Aura _at best_! By hitting Naruto and Ruby so soon before the initiation test, you are putting them at risk of injury or even death!"

"Don't get your bra in a twist, Pyrrha!" Yang shot back. "We handled it just fine last time!"

"Maybe so, but you'll only get stronger as you go on, and the missions will only become more dangerous." Pyrrha refused to back down. "This isn't a habit you can keep if you value the well-being of your team!"

"No one's ever said anything about it!"

"That isn't an excuse!"

Yang crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Whatever!"

 **Naruto and Sasuke cringed at the sight of the young girl rolling on the floor while grasping the back of her head. She moaned and looked up at her older sister with teary eyes, "Why~?"**

 **"Because I know better than anyone that once you start cleaning** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **, you go into every nook and cranny. Then you start fiddling with the barrel, and the magazines, the slide, and everything else you find. And when you're finished, the afternoon's gone and your hungry. I just saved you missing out on the test."**

 **Ruby sat up and continued rubbing her head, "There are better ways to do that."**

 **"Your better isn't as effective as my way."**

"That is _not_ effective."

 **Ruby glared up at her big sister before looking over at the two boys watching from the side, "You guys think this is bad, right? Would you treat a sibling like this?"**

 **Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "No idea. Only child."**

 **Sasuke looked off to the side, "Me and my brother didn't usually interact like that."**

"Hana might smack me around in a spar if I did something stupid," Kiba said, "but not for no reason like that. Sheesh, I'd hate to think about what you'd do if you actually got mad."

"She blew up a bar and got banned for life one time."

"Ruby!"

The shinobi stared at Yang in concern. Pyrrha resolved to see Professor Goodwitch about signing Yang up for anger management sessions.

 **Ruby just glared childishly at them before hugging her weapon in its standby mode, "Well it doesn't matter what the rest of you think.** _ **Crescent Rose**_ **always need my attention to make sure she's in effective condition. My baby likes to show herself off when she's around other people."**

 **Sasuke and Yang looked at Ruby in bewilderment but Naruto nodded his head in understanding, "Yeah, I get that. Sometimes, you just wanna show your weapon off to anyone and everyone you can. Make them jealous." He turned around and brought attention to the sheathes on his back, "I'm using today as a chance to get all these little guys back into play."**

 **Ruby cheered, "Yay! Someone else gets it!"**

Ruby looked at Naruto hopefully. Naruto shrugged and went, "Meh."

Ruby's hope at finding another kindred soul shattered into a thousand pieces.

 **The other two fighters looked between the odd duo before Yang raised an eyebrow. She looked at the bandana wearing blond, "Hey, why do you have those extras?"**

 **Naruto tilted his head, "What?"**

 **"All those extra swords on your back, why do you carry them around?"**

 **"Because they aren't extras." Naruto turned back around, "I use all of these guys in battle when I need to get serious."**

 **Yang blinked in surprise, "How many is that?"**

 **"Well, these all have two small swords in them so that's ten swords. And then there's** _ **Stormer**_ **so that makes eleven."**

 **"Yeah. So you have ten small swords as backup in case something goes wrong."**

 **"No! I use them all when I need them!"**

 **Yang was starting to get ticked off, "How can you use eleven swords at once? That's not practical!"**

"Seriously, how are you going to use eleven swords at once?"

"I don't know. I told you, I don't use swords."

Tenten hummed. "If I had to guess, I'd say you have wires attached to them to use them like a barbed whip." She put a hand to her chin. "Or maybe it's something like B's seven-sword style. You know, where he has a sword underneath each joint."

Ruby had stars in her eyes. "That sounds totally. Awesome."

"Yeah!" Nora shouted. "What if you roll up like a hedgehog and smash into people with your swords?"

"Uh…" Jaune was confused. "Can hedgehogs do that?"

"Who cares! It's awesome!"

 **Naruto was silent for a moment before he rubbed his chin and hummed. He walked over besides Ruby and asked, "Hey Ruby, why would you have something like a massive scythe with a sniper rifle if it wasn't practical?"**

 **Ruby played along, "Well Naruto, the same reason someone would have eleven blades to use at once." She had a spunky face and looked back at Yang, "Because it's awesome!"**

 **"Mm-hmm! She gets it!" Naruto and Ruby did a quick high five while smiling, content with themselves at proving Yang wrong. They were already smack talking in sync.**

"But…" Ruby looked at Naruto. "Crescent Rose _is_ practical. That's why she's such a great weapon."

Naruto huffed. "Ruby, I'm trying to make a point. You're supposed to back me up."

"Oh, uh… sorry."

 **Yang was fuming and about to burst before she took a deep breath in and out.**

 **Sasuke decided to dissolve the tension, "Okay, now that we're done arguing about weapons, are you guys ready for today?"**

 **Yang's demeanor changed back into her excited, eager self and she started bouncing on her feet, "Oh yeah, I'm ready for anything!" She then turned to Ruby, "Do you have everything?"**

 **Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yes."**

 **"Extra magazine for your gun?"**

 **"Yes."**

 **"Extra extra magazine just in case?"**

 **"Yes."**

 **"Your hood?"**

 **"I'm wearing it."**

 **"Just checking. Did you eat enough?"**

 **"I ate plenty!" Ruby grumbled in annoyance at Yang's overprotective tendencies, "I ate my pancakes! I drank my milk! I've eaten enough!"**

 **"Oh you could never eat enough." Naruto disagreed, "I think as long as there is space in your stomach, you need to eat something!"**

"That's true!" Nora shouted. "I need more food!" She ran to the snack table and microwaved some popcorn.

 **Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we know Naruto. You're like a trash compactor when you see food."**

 **Ruby and Yang nodded in agreement. They decided to have breakfast together as one group and the two girls were shocked to see how much the whiskered boy could stuff down his gullet.**

 **"Oh c'mon, I'm not that bad."**

"Oh, you're definitely that bad," Kiba said with a smirk. "You guzzle ramen like there's no tomorrow."

"But that's ramen!" Naruto countered as if it explained everything.

"It's still gross."

 **Ruby looked up at him, "But you ate an entire plate full of pancakes earlier."**

 **Yang added, "You ate an entire second plate of pancakes after that."**

 **Sasuke scowled, "You ate my pancakes!"**

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Don't eat my food."

"If you really wanted them, it's your fault for not stopping me." Naruto crossed his arms and smirked at his logic.

 **Naruto looked confused, "But you said you didn't like pancakes."**

Nora's head snapped around from the microwave. " _What?_ "

"See Sasuke? I was just making sure you didn't waste anything!"

 **"I said I didn't think I could eat a full plate of them! And I didn't! Because you ate all of them!"**

"Oh, so you're just weak," Nora said.

"What?"

"Yeah!" Nora ran back to her bean bag and began munching on her popcorn. "It's not that you don't like pancakes, you just can't eat a lot of them because you're weak."

Sasuke's eye was twitching dangerously.

"It's nothing against you personally, Sasuke," Ren said. "She just takes her pancakes very seriously."

 **"Oh sorry, I didn't know you meant it like that." Naruto then just grinned and stretched out, "Oh well, what's done is done! Let's get ready for test! What do you think it's gonna be? Tournament? Puzzle? I really hope it's not anything to do with writing."**

 **Yang and Ruby grimaced, in full agreement that a written test would be the worst way to have a test.**

 **Sasuke sat down on the bench, "I hear there's something about making teams with people."**

 **Ruby groaned and looked off to the side, "Great. More fun with strangers."**

 **Yang looked over to her unenthusiastic little sister, "Oh don't worry, it's not gonna be that bad. Just do the same thing you did yesterday to talk with Naruto and Jaune."**

 **"You mean blow up myself and the heiress of a world renowned company?"**

 **Yang was silent for a moment. She looked off to the side, "Okay, maybe not the exact same way."**

"Did you blow yourself up a second time?" Naruto asked.

"No! Weiss did!"

Weiss was scandalized. "I did not!"

"Wait, Weiss blew the two of you up?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, she set the forest on fire when we ran into some Beowolves."

"Only because you charged into the path of my fire Dust and I had to redirect it!"

 **Naruto chuckled at the sisters' banter before he looked around and noticed one of their new friends was nowhere in sight. He looked a little harder, "Speaking of Jaune, where is he?"**

 **"He said he was gonna look for his locker with all his stuff in it. But that was like half an hour ago."**

 **"Did he get lost or something?"**

 **"He said he didn't remember putting his stuff in a locker with a really high number so he went looking around."**

 **Naruto blinked before he chuckled nervously. Okay, now he really was worried that Jaune was not gonna have it easy during this test.**

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jaune grumbled.

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Weiss typed the password for her locker and pulled the metal door open. She pulled her holster out before carefully taking out** _ **Myrtenaster**_ **and placing it at her left side. She locked the rapier into place before humming with a small smile and nod. She shut the door and looked to the girl locking her armor into place, "So, Pyrrha, how are you feeling about the exam?"**

Pyrrha made a noise in the back of her throat. She remembered this conversation well.

 **The red-headed girl strapped on her bronze pieces while sitting on the bench. She clicked them together before looking up at the girl with the small scar near her eye, "Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel anxious about taking the exam. But at the same time I'm very eager to see what happens."**

 **"Oh, just what I'd expect from the top ranking student of Sanctum. You're excitement is almost contagious." Weiss sucked up and returned Pyrrha's smile with one of her own. Okay, time to lay the seeds, "Well Pyrrha, what do you think about the idea of making teams during the exam?"**

Weiss blushed as she noticed everyone looking at her- except for Pyrrha, who was very deliberately _not_ looking at her. "What? Pyrrha was easily the best person to partner with! Of course I'd try to get into her good graces!"

"But what about me? I'm a good partner, right?"

Weiss immediately realized the faux pas she'd just committed when she saw Ruby's insecure expression. "Yes, you are. But before I realized how good of a partner you could be, I thought Pyrrha would be the best," she recovered.

 **"I think it's an amazing idea." Pyrrha said with a smile as she opened up her locker and pulled** _ **Miló**_ **and** _ **Akoúo**_ **out to secure on her back. She shut the door, "I really want to see what everyone else in the academy can do in the battlefield."**

 **"Oh, I'm sure they're all just amazing. But I doubt many of them could stand up against you." Weiss said with an innocent tone as she fluttered her eyelashes. She feigned realization, "Wouldn't it be great if we were on a team together?"**

*Cough*Kissass!*Cough*

Weiss whirled on Nora. "What was that?!"

Yang snickered. "You wanna go wash your face, Weiss? You got a lot of brown on your nose."

"Oh, be quiet!"

"She's got a point," Naruto said. "I mean, _sheesh_ , you're acting like all those girls who threw themselves at Sasuke."

Sasuke made a face. "Don't remind me."

 **Pyrrha laughed and nodded kindly, "Yes, it would be something. But I doubt we will be able to control the situation we find ourselves in so easily. We might just have to let fate decide for us who we work with."**

 **"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But it would be fantastic if we did work together."**

 **Pyrrha looked to the heiress with an honest smile, "Perhaps you will get to work alongside one of the friends you made last night."**

"Uhhh… _friends_?" Yang's voice dripped with skepticism. "That wasn't a friendly conversation."

"Well, you were making a lot of noise," Pyrrha tried to rationalize. "Maybe I thought you were just anxious?"

Pyrrha sank in her seat when she saw the looks on everyone's faces. That was a socially blind moment for her.

 **"Yeah, maybe I-" Weiss' eyes widened and she looked to Pyrrha in shock, "What?! What friends are you thinking of?!"**

 **"The ones you were talking with last night in the ballroom. When you were with all those boys and girls."**

 **Weiss waved her arms, "Oh no no no no no no no. Those people were not my friends! They were just obnoxious, annoying strangers I had the misfortune of meeting earlier that day! No, in fact, I barely even met two of them, the rest were just people along for the ride!"**

"Wow, love you too, Weiss."

"Well!" Weiss threw her hands up in the air. "We didn't make very good first impressions on each other!"

"She's not wrong," Sasuke said.

 **"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that." Pyrrha patted Weiss' shoulder, "I'm sure today will play out better for you than yesterday did."**

 **"Yes, I'm planning on it." Weiss agreed before she turned to the side and grinned menacingly, rubbing her hands together in success at beginning her master plan. She had the unbelievable luck of sitting on the same ship over to Beacon with the most renowned young fighter of their generation! Weiss had talked to and befriended the powerful amazon on the flight over and had gotten in her good graces.**

 **And now that they were friends, she could use this opportunity to rise in school as the best team in history!**

 **Weiss Schnee, top graded student and the heir to the great Schnee Dust Company. And Pyrrha Nikos, best student and rising star of Remnant. Together, nothing and no one could stand in their way!**

Pyrrha cringed, her face heating up. Fortunately, Weiss seemed to be just as uncomfortable with how her other self was acting. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

Pyrrha smiled back at her.

 **"Pyrrha!"**

 **Weiss was immediately pulled out of her dark thoughts when she heard a new, eager voice come into play. She turned around just in time to see a new girl with brown hair done up in buns and wearing red pants and a long-sleeved blouse.**

"Woah, woah, woah!" Yang hit Rewind. "Weiss, what happened to your eyes there?!"

"What? What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with my eyes."

Yang looked around the room. "Am I the only one who saw that?"

"No, I saw it, too," Sasuke said.

"Saw what?" Naruto asked.

Yang hit Play, then Pause right as Tenten walked onto the screen. Weiss blushed as several people burst into laughter at the way her eyes moved. Yang shrieked. "What the hell is up with that?"

Weiss balled her hands into fists and waited for the laughter to end. When it took too long, she swiped the remote from Yang and hit Play. She glared at Ruby. "Traitor."

"Sorry, Weiss," Ruby said through her giggles. "But it was kinda funny."

"No it wasn't!"

 **She ran up to the red-head, "How are you feeling today?"**

 **Pyrrha looked towards the other girl, "Ready for just about anything Tenten. How about you?"**

 **Tenten smirked and grabbed her bicep, "Like I could take on a whole army of Grimm!"**

 **"That's great to hear." Pyrrha realized that her two new friends were not yet acquainted with each other and took a moment to introduce them. She turned to the shorter white-haired girl, "Weiss, this is the girl I met yesterday after we got off the ship. She showed me the way to the main presentation hall when I got lost. Her name is Tenten Tamura."**

 **Tenten waved, "Hi. Nice to meet you."**

 **Weiss looked at the newcomer and narrowed her eyes. Strangers were bad enough. Strangers getting chummy with your ticket to success were even worse. She deadpanned, "Weiss Schnee."**

 **Tenten's eyes brightened, "As in the Schnee Company 'Schnee'? Oh wow, I didn't know we had such famous people coming to school this year." Tenten started to grin, "This is so wonderful!"**

Tenten groaned. "Why am I being such a fangirl?"

"Didn't Gai-sensei say you were crazy about being the next Tsunade when you were a kid?" Kiba asked.

"I was never this bad."

"Why don't you like fangirls?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't like girls who start screaming the moment they see someone famous. It's just embarrassing for everyone."

 **Weiss blinked in surprise and flipped her hair with a smirk at the recognition she was receiving. She was glad to know that there were still some people that knew her and didn't take potshots at her family business right off the bat. She smiled, "Well, I'm glad to see some people still have the decency to compliment a person when they meet. But-Tenten right?"**

 **The bun-haired girl nodded.**

 **"Tenten, do you know who this girl is?" She referred to the taller warrior besides them with a proud tone, "She's-"**

 **"Oh, I know! Pyrrha Nikos!" Tenten interrupted while trying to control her giddy joy at being next to one of her heroes, "'The Strongest of The Next Generation', 4 time consecutive winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament, she set all time records and achievements no one in the last few years has been able to make! She's-"**

Tenten's eye was twitching.

 **Tenten realized she had caused Weiss to lean back in surprise and even shocked Pyrrha with her quick talking. The hidden weapon users coughed into her hand and fixed her clothes before standing up to look dignified. She looked to the red-head woman, "Um...sorry about that Pyrrha. Old habits."**

 **Pyrrha laughed awkwardly before waving off the other girl's concern, "It's all right. At least you're trying."**

 **Weiss had a small scowl on her face while she looked between the taller girls in front of her. She closed her eyes and calmed her thoughts. Okay. This was fine. No problems. It was all still salvageable. This new girl was just a fan of Pyrrha. Anyone would be. As long as nothing else got in the way, her plan was still in motion.**

 **"Hey there Snow Angel, I thought I saw something beautiful in the corner of my eye."**

Weiss and Jaune groaned as people snickered, Weiss in frustration and Jaune in embarrassment.

"You got guts, I'll give you that," Kiba said. "I don't think a lot of guys would be able to look their crush in the face after what happened last episode."

"Jaune, while I appreciate the fact that you have _finally_ stopped hitting on me, I suggest you keep my alternate self's opinion of your alternate self from dropping any lower by leaving her alone."

Jaune ducked his head. "Well, it's not like I can make him stop..."

 **"IYAAA!" Weiss squealed before jumping into Pyrrha's arms like a scared child.**

Yang patted a red-faced Weiss on the back. "There, there, you'll be brave enough to face the big, bad Jaune some day."

A growl was her response.

Meanwhile, Nora had an idea. "Hey Pyrrha, catch me!"

"Wha-oof!"

 **She looked back to see the same scraggly looking blond boy with armor from yesterday waving at her. Weiss groaned while Pyrrha lowered her to the ground, "Ugh, it's you again. I thought you gave up."**

 **"Sorry, not in my style. I'm just too stubborn to give up on the first try." He said while leaning against the locker, not realizing that his shoulder guard was causing him to slip against the locker and fall flat on his face. The girls watched him pop back up, "I'm good. I am okay."**

"Oh man, this is just _painful_." Despite his words, Kiba didn't look very pained.

"Yeah, I don't even think I was this bad when I was chasing after Sakura," Naruto said.

"You think it's bad for you?" Jaune asked. "At least you aren't making fools of yourselves."

"Speak for yourselves, boys." Yang had a shit-eating grin on her face. "This is the best entertainment I've had all week."

"Stop taking pleasure from my embarrassment!"

 **The two other girls were confused by this boy's sudden appearance and strange personality as Weiss rubbed her temples. She grumbled, "Okay, listen..."**

 **"Jaune."**

 **"Jaune, right. Listen Jaune, today is a really big day for a lot of us. Exams. Teams. The fate of our futures being set up right in front of us- you know, that whole song and dance."**

 **Jaune's peppiness shrunk a little, "Right."**

 **"Well maybe you should spend a little time preparing yourself for making a team and not talking to random people that obviously aren't that thrilled with talking to you."**

"That's a hint, Jaune!" Nora said from Pyrrha's lap.

Pyrrha was a little confused. "I was thrilled you were talking to me."

"Well, I'm willing to give him a chance," Tenten said.

 **Jaune was silent for a moment as he considered what she said. He then had a suave smile take its place, "How about if we make a team? Then we can talk as much as we want."**

 **"Oh my god it's like talking to a brick wall." Weiss bemoaned as she circled around and away from the rest of the group. They watched her walk and try to calm herself down.**

"I'm sorry to say this, Jaune, but I feel like you're being intentionally dense," Tenten said.

"He is!" Weiss shot him a glare. "He was not this bad the first time around."

Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, sorry."

"Well…" Pyrrha tried to find a way to put a positive spin on it. "Perseverance is a good thing, isn't it?"

"Can't argue with that," Naruto said. "I made a lot of friends just because I didn't let myself get pushed away."

 **Pyrrha laughed lightly before looking to the taller boy with a smile, "It seems like she's quite surprised to see someone so determined to talk to her."**

 **"Well Momma Arc didn't raise no quitter." Jaune looked at the two other girls before waving at them, "I'm Jaune Arc, by the way. Sorry if I didn't introduce myself yet."**

 **Tenten chuckled, "I'm Tenten Tamura."**

 **Pyrrha waved her hand, "And I'm Pyrrha Nikos."**

 **"Tenten, Pyrrha, it's very nice to meet you both." Jaune said kindly to the two ladies before he tried to talk with them, "So are you guys making a team with each other?"**

 **Pyrrha thought it over, "I...don't think that's how it's going to work during the exam."**

 **"Oh. Okay. Well that's good to know." Jaune seemed nervous and immediately asked again, "Do you know what kinda exam we're gonna do anyway? Because I didn't know and if they already mentioned it then I wasn't listening and I don't know so-"**

 **"Breathe." Tenten interrupted when she saw Jaune's face turn light purple, "Just breathe."**

"Are you sure you're okay, Jaune?" Tenten asked. "Purple isn't a healthy color."

"I'm fine, I just…" Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "I was really nervous before initiation. I'm doing better now."

 **Jaune nodded and took a deep breath in and out before he felt his head start to clear. He nodded to the bun wearing girl, "Thanks I...I needed that." He sighed, "Yeah, I tried to keep my cool but when I heard all that stuff about teams and futures and paths being set today I...kinda almost lost it."**

 **Tenten rolled her eyes, "Yeah. 'Almost' being the term to define."**

 **Pyrrha smiled, "Don't worry Jaune, I'm sure you will do fine today. Just trust in whoever you're teamed up with and have each other's back."**

 **"Right. Okay yeah, that's good advice." Jaune nodded and took a deep breath through his nose before looking at the two women, "So what about you girls? Ready for the exam?"**

 **"Well, I'm prepared for everything." Tenten said, "And I'm sure Pyrrha will be fine because...well, she does stuff like this all the time."**

 **Jaune looked at the red-head, "Oh, you do? What, was it like a prep school where you take tests and stuff?"**

 **Pyrrha looked mildly surprised while Tenten was utterly shocked by his lack of knowledge about the celebrity. She motioned to the armor clad woman, "Pyrrha Nikos? The Pyrrha Nikos? Have you not heard of her?"**

 **Jaune shook his head, "No, I've heard of her. She said her name a minute ago and now you've said it a few times too."**

 **Pyrrha giggled at his simple answer.**

"Wait, how famous are you, Pyrrha?" Tenten asked. "I thought you were just a local hero, but my other self is making it sound like you're a celebrity."

Nora wrenched Pyrrha's head forward. "She is! Everyone who's anyone knows who she is!"

Kiba snorted. "Everyone except Jaune, apparently."

"Well, I came from a small town," Jaune explained. "A lot of news doesn't make it out there."

"Nora, can you please let go of my neck?"

"Oh! Sorry!"

 **Tenten tried to jog his memory, "Champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament?"**

 **Jaune tilted his head, "What's that?"**

 **"'The Next Great Warrior of Our Generation?'"**

 **Jaune shook his head, "Not ringing any bells."**

 **Tenten was flabbergasted, "But...but she won the cover spread of the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box because of all that stuff."**

 **Jaune gasped and nearly lost the feeling in his legs as he pointed at Pyrrha, "I thought I had seen you before! That's my favorite cereal! I eat it all the time! I got my first cavities off that stuff!"**

 **Pyrrha looked conflicted, "Oh...um...sorry about that."**

"You're on a cereal box?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but… I wouldn't advise eating it. It's terrible for you."

 **Jaune waved off her concern, "Ah, don't sweat it. I'm sure those babies would've gone bad anyway."**

 **She laughed again, "Well that's good to know."**

 **Weiss came back over to the group with a displeased look on her face, "Okay, I think I'm feeling better now."**

 **Jaune tried once more to be smooth, "You feeling better about the idea of us working on a team?"**

Weiss fell back against the couch and groaned.

 **"No. Just needed to spend a moment staving off an aneurysm." Weiss took her hands off her temples and looked back at the other girls, "I'm leaving."**

 **"M-maybe I'll see you during the test."**

 **"Maybe. But just to make sure I don't get too anxious with the idea that you're following me..." Weiss pulled out her rapier and swung it as the ground lit up at their feet before disappearing. Jaune blinked before looking down to see ice had formed up his legs all the way to his thighs.**

"Wow. Talk about _ice cold_." Yang noticed the glares she was getting and raised her hands in defense. "Hey, that wasn't even intentional!"

"Well, I mean, at least she didn't pin me to the pillar."

"I'm sorry about that."

Weiss buried her face in her hands at the looks she was getting from the ninja.

 **Weiss walked away, Tenten following not long after while waving to the partially frozen blond.**

"Wait, I don't even help him?"

 **Pyrrha walked by his side and gave an apologetic look, "I'm really sorry about this Jaune."**

 **Jaune sheepishly smiled, "Ah, it's all right. This isn't that bad so you don't need to worry. Good luck with the exam."**

 **Pyrrha was hesitant as she decided to trust his confidence and waved him goodbye before she was out of sight.**

"You really shouldn't have believed him, Pyrrha," Yang said.

"I know. I'm sorry."

 **Jaune then proceeded to try and pull his legs out of the ice by leaning, punching the ice, and the very unlikely possibility that he could fly away. He hung his head, "Darn it."**

 **He heard a few footsteps make their way to him and looked up. Naruto, Ruby, Sasuke, and Yang all standing in front of him with varying degrees of amusement on their faces. Naruto smiled and tried to speak without laughing, "H-how...how in the world did you get yourself into this?"**

 **Jaune avoided their eyes, "I...tried talking to Weiss again."**

 **"Yeah, that would do it."**

 **Ruby walked up to his side and reached up to pat his shoulder, "It's okay. So far, we're both being completely ignored at our attempts at talking with that girl."**

 **Jaune held her shoulder in return, "I now think I understand your pain."**

 **"Yeah." Yang gave a quirky smile, "Looks like you got put on Weiss."**

…

Yang looked around and grinned. "Get it?"

No one responded.

"Does she do that a lot?" Kiba asked.

Ruby groaned. "She does it _all the time_. It _suuuucks_."

"Hey! My puns are great!"

 **Everyone just stared at her as Ruby gave her a thumbs-down, "Booooo~."**

 **Yang turned her head, "Whatever. That was funny."**

 **"Um..." Jaune got their attention and looked down at the ice that encased him, "Can you guys help me out here? I'm stuck...and cold."**

 **"I've got it." Sasuke cocked the fore-end at the bottom of his sheathe and the flap opened up to reveal his shotgun. He aimed it at Jaune's feet before advising the trapped blond, "You might want to lean back."**

"Wait, what?!" Jaune looked at Sasuke in horror. "You're gonna shoot me?"

"Do you want to get out of there or not?"

"I wanna live!"

 **"W-wait! Wait! Let's think about this-"**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Blake closed her locker door after grabbing** _ **Gambol Shroud**_ **and locking it onto the latch on her back. She started making her way out of the locker room and spotted the sight of several boy and girls making their way out. Some were stern and focused while a few were nearly jumping off the walls and full of energy (especially that girl bothering that boy with the pink highlight in his hair).**

"Hey look! It's me!"

 **Blake was feeling-**

 ***Bang***

 **"GYAKKKAAAAAA-WHYYYYYYY?!"**

Jaune groaned.

 **...**

 **Blake was doing her best not to draw attention and keep calm. No one was staring at her. No one could tell who she was. She was safe here. And as long as she could avoid attention, everything would work out.**

 **"Krrrwaaaaa! Krrrwaaaaa!"**

Ren sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

 **"Honestly Nora, I don't think that's the noise a sloth makes. In fact, I don't think sloths make noise in the first place."**

 **"You don't know that! What if they just stay silent when people are looking at them? Maybe they have sophisticated conversations when we aren't around! Oh~, maybe they wear top hats!"**

 **"I really doubt that."**

Naruto gave Ren and Nora a look. "Why were you talking about sloths?"

"Cuz how else were we supposed to find each other during initiation?"

"She was concerned that we would be partnered with strangers if we couldn't find each other in the forest, so she wanted to have a signal that only we would recognize," Ren explained.

Naruto stared for a few more seconds before shrugging. "Makes sense, I guess…"

Nora cheered at the validation.

 **Blake listened to the odd but amusing conversation happening between two other students. She let a sense of relief and serenity develop inside her as she walked the hall.**

 **This is where she let past mistakes be buried.**

 **This is where all the insecurities and bad decisions were fixed.**

 **This is where she started anew.**

 **She wasn't going to let anyone change that.**

Blake grimaced at the looks she was getting from the ninja while her classmates fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Hey, whatever you did, it's in the past," Naruto said. "It's never too late to start over. I mean just look at me and Sasuke! We were a couple of thieves, and now we're hanging with you guys."

"Don't think my alternate self will ignore all the crimes your alternate selves committed. They stole millions from my family's company, and you will be held accountable."

Naruto laughed nervously at Weiss's brutal shutdown. Blake turned to him. "Um… thank you."

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **"Welcome students. Today is the day of your final exam to gain entry into Beacon." Ozpin said with a cup of coffee in his hand and Glynda by his side working with a Scroll. All of the new First Year students were lined up in front of them while standing on platforms built into the ground. He looked between all of them, "You have been training for years to develop yourselves as warriors. Be it power. Skill. Technique. Strategy. Or any other strengths you have built over time, today is the day where it all comes into play in the Emerald Forest."**

Nora was vibrating in her beanbag. "This is it, this is it…" Nora started shaking Pyrrha. "This is it, Pyrrha!" She scrambled from Pyrrha's lap and started shaking Ren. "Ren, this is it!" She turned her attention to Kiba and Akamaru. "This is it!"

"Sheesh, we get it!"

Ruby wasn't much better. "We're gonna partner up and make our teams and kill tons of Grimm and-"

"Shhhh!"

"Oh, sorry."

 **Naruto took a deep breath and looked between him to see he was positioned right between Jaune and Ruby. With Jaune being at the end of the line and Ruby standing right next to her big sister. Naruto leaned forward to see Sasuke somewhere down the row standing besides a huge guy in armor and another boy with a pink highlight in his hair.**

 **Jaune, Naruto, and Ruby looked between each other with a nervous grin as Glynda continued the introduction, "Now there have been some rumors spreading between the students that you will be placed into teams this year. Allow me to shine some light on this situation. Today, you will be assigned with other students as teammates."**

 **Some of the teenagers made small gulping sounds but they steeled themselves for the situation.**

 **Ozpin added, "And the team you are assigned to will be the team you shall work with for the rest of your time here at Beacon."**

 **The First Years were still surprised but they knew as long as they kept their cool-**

 **"And your teams will be made with the first person you make contact with inside the Emerald Forest."**

…

"Wait, seriously?" Kiba asked. "They just put you on a team with the first people you see?"

"Just your partners," Pyrrha said. "Teams are made based on which chess piece you take."

"That still sounds like you're leaving the creation of teams entirely to chance," Tenten said. "At the academy, teams are made based on how well you do on the graduation exam. The person who scored the best is placed on a team with the person who scored the worst to help them out."

Yang shrugged. "Meh. This stuff works out pretty well."

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a glance. It did.

 **The students all looked between each other with varying degrees of surprise and uncertainty.**

 **"Uhhhhhhhhhhh..."**

 **And Ruby made the most pathetic whimper of her entire life when the natural, antisocial introvert inside of her curled into a ball and cried.**

 **"Once you have made a team, make your way to the northern edge of the forest. But be on your guard...this forest is teeming with dangers that will not hesitate to attack you. If you falter, you may lose your neck."**

"Anyone else getting flashbacks to our genin tests?" Kiba asked.

"Oh yeah."

"Mhm."

"No."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba shot Tenten a look.

"I had Gai-sensei," she said. "I don't know what Kakashi and Kurenai told you guys, but for me it was a lot of, 'SHOW ME THE FLAMES OF YOUR YOUTH!'"

Naruto and Kiba shuddered, and Sasuke grimaced just a bit.

"Uh… 'flames of youth?'" Yang asked with a snicker.

"Don't ask."

 **Jaune gulped.**

 **"In the northern edge of the forest is a site holding several relics. Each team is to take one relic and find their way back to this cliff. From the time you arrive in the forest until you come back here, we will be evaluating you and your efforts." Ozpin looked at all the new students, "Are there any questions you might have about the test?"**

 **Several students raised their ha-**

 **"Good. Then let's begin. Take your positions and prepare your landing strategies."**

"That is… not a good teaching policy," Pyrrha said. Jaune nodded.

"So you guys are basically screwed, huh?" Kiba asked.

"Nah, we're good."

Nora pumped her fists. "We're gonna kick ass!"

 **The students all bent their knees, some of them taking out their weapons and making stances while others just braced themselves for the jump. Jaune was confused, "Wait, our what?"**

 **"Your landing strategy, Mr. Arc."**

 **Jaune didn't even seem to notice as the platforms they were standing on started propelling students down the line through the air and into the forest.**

 **"Yeah, but I don't know what that means."**

Jaune put his head in his hands and wished for his onscreen self to stop talking.

 **Sasuke gripped his sheathe as he was hurdled into the sky and flew over the trees.**

 **"It's your individual way for landing on the ground and moving through the forest."**

 **Yang took out some aviator glasses she had clipped on her collar before seeing Naruto and Ruby looking towards her. She grinned and saluted them before she was catapulted off the cliff.**

 **"But why would we be landing?"**

"Jaune, your lack of situational awareness is alarming," Weiss said. "You need to work on being aware of everything around you."

"I know…"

"But that looks like a lot of fun," Naruto cut in. "I wanna try it!"

"You can easily jump higher than that," Sasuke said. "There's no point to a catapult."

Kiba snorted. "So what? Just get a really big catapult." Akamaru barked.

 **"Because otherwise you might sustain injury if you don't brace yourself."**

 **Ruby smirked and was shot off like a bullet through the sky. Naruto watched her fly before he reached back and tightened his bandana with a smirk.**

 **"But why would I-"**

 **Naruto whistled and caught Jaune's attention before the whiskered blond waved goodbye. His platform shot out from the ground and he flew off while laughing at the top of his lungs.**

 **Jaune was the last one left on the cliff. He looked down at the platform he was standing on and whimpered, "Can I take the stairs?"**

 **"No."**

 **"Ohh-WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"**

 **Ozpin and Glynda watched Jaune launch and could see all the students glide through the air. It was out of their hands now.**

 **It was now up to them.**

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously. His other self had said Jaune would probably die. He was joking, but as Naruto watched Jaune tumble through the air, he had to wonder.

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

 **Naruto laughed like a madman as he kept a hand clamped on his bandana so it didn't fly off. The other students either landed already or were out of his sight but he was still soaring over the treetops. It wasn't everyday you got to experience something like flying. Or in this case, falling with style.**

 **Speaking of style.**

 **"Spin! Twirl! Airplane! And~ a front flip for style! Hahaha!"**

"Alright, that's pretty cool. I definitely have to try that out when I go flying."

Ren perked up. "You can fly?"

"Yeah! I just learned how, so I haven't done it much, but it's awesome!"

"You can fly?" Yang asked. "Oh, you gotta show me that later!"

 **Naruto's fun had to take a backseat as he felt his arc reached its apex and he started falling towards the trees. Both of his hands reached into the pack on his tailbone and pulled out a long strip of steel wire.**

 **He held the wire in his mouth before reaching back and pulling two of the smaller blades out of their sheathe. He locked the wire together around the hooks of the blades before kicking one of them sharply at the top of a tree.**

 **The small sword was imbedded into the wood and Naruto immediately came swinging towards it before he gave a quick yank and the sword was pulled out. He continued using the sword and wire combo to swing from tree to tree and ease his way through the forest. When he finally started to see the ground, he pulled both swords back to his hands and vaulted off a lower branch.**

 **He spun through the air several times before landing perfectly on the ground like a gymnast. He held his swords over his head before he laughed, "All right! 10/10!"**

 **He heard some rustling and looked back to see several trees and branches start falling to the ground after he had accidentally cut through them.**

 **He shrugged his shoulders before sheathing his swords again, "Meh. 9.5."**

"Nope! Ten!"

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Ruby jumped from branch to branch before landing on the grass in a crouch. She looked back up as her hair settled around her face before she sprinted at unbelievable speeds through the forest.**

 **Her eyes looked focused and ready for anything.**

Ruby pumped her fists. "I can do this!"

 **Her thoughts on the other hand...**

 **'Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! What kinda test is this?!'**

"Are you sure about that?" Naruto asked.

Ruby did not look sure anymore. "Well, I did it the first time…"

"You got this, Rubes," Yang reassured. "I bet you'll get Weiss again. You'll be fine."

 **'I'm stuck with the first person I see for the next four years! I don't know people! I can't handle conversation! Okay, breathe Ruby, just breathe. Just look for somebody you know you can work with. How about Jaune? Yeah, Jaune's a good choice. He's nice. He's funny. He's...a bit slow when it comes to dangerous situations. Okay, maybe not Jaune.'**

"Sorry Jaune."

Jaune sighed. "I get it."

 **'How about Naruto? Yeah, yeah Naruto's a great partner! He's confident! He can hold his own! He might start a fight at the drop of a-okay, Naruto will be a backup choice.'**

"Uhhh, no I wouldn't."

"He's kind of a spazz, but I don't think he'd start a fight," Jaune said.

Naruto frowned. "A spazz?"

 **'Maybe Sasuke?...'**

"That's a bad idea."

 **'I don't know anything about him. Crud, this sucks! Oh, what about Blake! She was so cool yesterday, I bet she'd make a great partner. But she spoke less than me when I tried talking to her. And I think she wanted me to leave.'**

"Oh." Blake looked at her team. "Was I that obvious the first time?"

Yang and Ruby nodded.

"Well, you weren't leaving, so I thought I wasn't."

 **'Ugh, why can't I make up my mind? Besides Yang, who else do I know that'd make a good partner? Who else? Who-'**

 **Ruby's thoughts were cut short when she ran through a bush and met with a certain girl with long white hair.**

"Yes!"

Naruto snickered. "Wow. The goofball social reject gets stuck with the uptight heir who thinks they're better than everyone. Sound familiar, Sasuke?"

"Let's hope they can work together better than we did."

"Excuse me!" Weiss yelled. "I don't think I'm better than everyone!"

"Not even in the beginning?" Yang asked.

Weiss crossed her arms and grumbled.

 **The heiress with the scar along her eye was pushing her way through the foliage when Ruby had come running through the thick trees. They were both silent and just blinked while looking at each other. Ruby was the first to make a move and waved to the white clad girl.**

 **Weiss just ignored her and walked away as Ruby hung her head in shame.**

Yang frowned. "Wait, Weiss, you can't do that."

"Just wait a minute."

 **No. No way. She was not going to stick with that little brat for the rest of her education. Somebody else. Anybody else would do.**

 **"Hello~? Anyone~?"**

 **Weiss stopped and looked up to see Jaune hanging from a tree by a red spear lodged in his hood. The blond young man looked down to see Weiss looking up at him and he waved to her.**

Several people laughed at the image. Jaune groaned.

"What happened to _you_?" Yang asked.

"Pyrrha happened."

The girl in question made an embarrassed noise. "His landing strategy left much to be desired, so…"

"You told him to just _hang around_ until you found him?" Yang finished.

That cut off any laughter that hadn't finished.

"Stop doing that," Sasuke snapped.

 **She turned around again and walked rough the bushes until she saw Ruby standing there in the same place. She grabbed the red girl's hood and dragged her along, "You are the lesser of two evils."**

 **"I knew you cared!"**

"Oh, _that's_ why you turned around?"

"Yes. I'd already found Ruby, so I couldn't be partners with you."

Nobody believed that.

 **Jaune listened as the two girls' voices disappeared and he was left pinned to a tree several feet off the ground. He sighed and drummed his fingers along the bark.**

 **"I always seem to find you in some kind of strange predicament."**

 **Jaune perked up a little and looked down to see Pyrrha standing by the base of the tree with her hands on her hips. She waved up at him with a smile.**

 **He sulked and crossed his arms, "I'd prefer if this wasn't made into a habit." After a moment he looked down at the red-head and smiled, "But thanks for the save."**

 **"No problem. Here, let me get you down." She pulled** _ **Akoúo**_ **off her back and tossed it hard enough to dislodge the spear from the tree and Jaune's hood. Unfortunately, Jaune didn't see this coming...**

 **"AHHHHH-OOF!"**

Jaune and Pyrrha winced as they watched him hit the ground. That looked as painful as it had felt.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Jaune whimpered. "At least you got me down."

 **Pyrrha covered her mouth in horror as she looked at the boy lying at her feet. She spoke up, "I'm sorry."**

 **He wheezed, "It's cool."**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

 **Naruto slowly made his way through the forest while keeping his guard up at all times. There was a stiff, chilling sensation in the air around him. Something that told him to stay on his toes or else he would regret it later.**

 **Ozpin was right, this place was crawling with Grimm.**

 **Naruto had fought Grimm before. Hell, if you had a weapon and called yourself a fighter anywhere in Remnant then you would have had to fight a Grimm at least once. It was like a rite of passage.**

 **Naruto heard the sound of movement rustling the bushes behind him. He stopped moving and started looking around his shoulders as he slowly reached up to grab his sword's hilt.**

 **The thing hiding in the bushes jumped out and Naruto pulled his sword out to stop an attack. He was met with a barrel at the end of a tonfa being aimed right between his eyes.**

 **The tip of Naruto's blade was only a few inches away from the boy with the wild brown hair. In return, his mechanical tonfa had extended a machine gun barrel from its tip and aimed at Naruto's face for instant retaliation.**

Naruto and Kiba stared at the faceoff between their counterparts for several seconds. Kiba groaned. "Great, I'm stuck with you for the next four years."

"Hey, at least you got _me_ as a partner," Naruto countered. "I got _you_."

"I think you mean _you_ got _me_ as a partner." Kiba groaned again and leaned back. "Why can't I have Akamaru as a partner? Every Inuzuka has a dog at their side!"

"But you guys are friends, right?" Ruby asked. "You'll get along just fine!"

"Well, yeah, but…" Naruto gestured aimlessly. "Couldn't I have gotten Sasuke? Or Tenten?"

"I still don't get why I can't be with Akamaru!"

*Bark!*

"They're too similar, Ruby," Tenten said. "They can work together just fine, but put them in the same room and chances are they'll rile each other up."

"Yeah, that."

 **Naruto spoke first, "Lower the weapon."**

"Hell no."

 **"You first."**

"Nuh-uh!"

 **"I don't like a machine gun pointed at my face."**

 **"Well I don't like a sword pointed at mine."**

 **"You're the one that came jumping out first. I was just protecting myself."**

 **"I felt a presence moving behind the bushes and I acted. Ozpin said that this place would be full of things trying to attack us. I just wanted to make the first strike."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"You don't have a partner, do you?"**

 **"No. You?"**

Kiba groaned a third time. "Dammit."

 **Both boys were silent for a moment before they lowered their weapons with a dissatisfied sigh. Naruto sheathed his sword, "Name's Naruto."**

 **The wild looking teenager hooked his tonfa away, "Kiba."**

 **"Well Kiba, I guess we're partners now."**

 **Kiba nodded his head but looked off to the side, "Yeah, I guess so."**

 **The two strangers were quiet as an awkward atmosphere settled between them. Now that they were experiencing it, it was pretty unnerving to know the first person you met in the forest was going to have your back for the next four years.**

"So that's it?" Naruto asked. "We're partners now?"

"This is pretty underwhelming."

Weiss gave them a look. "Were you expecting grand speeches and flawless teamwork in the midst of sudden battle?"

"I mean…" Naruto shrugged. "Kinda?"

Weiss shook her head. "That doesn't happen in the real world."

"It does in ours."

 **Naruto clapped his hands, "Well, we aren't gonna get anywhere just standing here. Let's get moving." He started leading the way, "C'mon, the cliff is directly behind us so if we keep heading straight we should reach the sight they were talking about."**

 **Kiba stood there and watched Naruto walk through the bushes.**

"Kiba why aren't you following me?"

"Cuz you're probably going the wrong way."

"No I'm not!"

 **A moment passed before he reemerged with a stoic look on his face and he looked at the brown-haired man, "Why aren't you coming?"**

 **"Because that's not the right way."**

"See?"

"You don't know that."

 **Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What?"**

 **"Do you think when he said north he meant directly that way? This forest is huge! North is a big general direction to move in." Kiba looked around for reference, "No, they must have put the site somewhere that would be more difficult to reach."**

 **Naruto crossed his arms, "Okay, then what do you think we should do?"**

 **Kiba pointed in one direction, "I caught the scent of something earlier before we jumped each other. I bet that's the path they took to get to the site."**

 **Naruto looked at the boy with the tattoos on his face in confusion and slight disgust, "You caught a scent?"**

"Yeah! I'm an Inuzuka!"

 **"Yeah. It's a skill. Y'know, something we're supposed to be testing in this exam."**

 **Naruto looked at him incredulously, "And how do you know it's the right path to the site?"**

 **"Because the scent of perfume and milk was filling my nose." Kiba looked back at Naruto like he wasn't pleased with the idea of his abilities being questioned, "Ms. Goodwitch was wearing a hint of something while we were on the cliff and what do you put in coffee?"**

 **He asked Naruto who just stood there with a stone-faced expression.**

Kiba and Naruto glared at each other with the exact same expressions.

 **"Milk. Which means Ozpin must have been down here too." He pointed in the direction again, "I know if we head this way we'll reach the site in no time."**

 **Naruto was silent for a moment before he asked, "So did you get a good whiff of everyone or are you just interested in knowing what Ms. Goodwitch smells like?"**

 **"Great joke dumbass." Kiba started leaving, "C'mon, follow me."**

 **Naruto stood there for a moment before he sighed and started following after Kiba.**

 **If they were gonna be a team together then this was going to be a long four years.**

 **((((((((Hunting))))))))**

Weiss stood up and headed for the bathroom the moment the lights came back. The others looked around awkwardly; quite a few things had come up this episode that needed addressing.

Naruto took the initiative. "Alright, guess I'll start: Jaune, I think you're screwed."

"Yeah, I gotta wonder about that, too," Yang added. "I wasn't paying attention the first time, but you really don't know what you're doing."

Pyrrha frowned. "Not everyone had the same preparation we did, Yang. You and I had the benefit of going to a preparatory school, but for the most part, Jaune had to figure things out by himself."

"Uh… yeah. I didn't have anyone to teach me about Aura or swordsmanship." Jaune ducked his head. "I just picked up Crocea Mors and started swinging it."

"And you still got in? Talk about lucky."

"That's another thing," Tenten cut in. "Am I the only one who's noticed all the barbs being thrown around? I mean, Jaune got pinned to a tree dozens of feet in the air, and we mostly just laughed."

"We could all be a little nicer to each other," Blake said. She gestured to her fellow students. "We know each other fairly well," she gestured to the ninja, "and you know each other fairly well, but I think more than a few tempers have been raised just now." She looked at Naruto. "You called Ruby a social reject and Weiss arrogant."

"Well I was a social reject, too! And Sasuke was _so much worse_ than Weiss when he was a kid."

"It still hurt," Ruby mumbled.

"Uh-huh." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well then, sorry I said that."

"Yang," Pyrrha said pointedly.

Yang gave her a flat look. "What?"

"You need to stop hitting people."

"Ughhhh, fine! If you're gonna be this anal about it…" She muttered the last part under her breath.

Tenten turned to Sasuke. "You could be less callous too, you know."

"Hm?"

"You shot Jaune."

"Yeah, that would've been really painful."

"Was there any other way to get him out of there?" Sasuke asked. "Really, what else could I have done, besides waiting for the ice to melt?"

Silence.

"He has a point," Ren conceded.

The bathroom door opened just then, and a tired-looking Weiss walked out. She stood behind Pyrrha's couch and sighed when everyone looked at her. "I realize that I did not give the best showing of myself. Both my alternate self and I were… unnecessarily spiteful. I apologize for that. Reliving my first few days at Beacon has made me remember how aggravating I found Ruby, Yang, and Jaune, and I fell back into old habits. So… I will do better from here on out."

Naruto looked around with a smile on his face. "Well guys? I know it wasn't much, but I think we've aired our grievances."

Ruby burst into a cloud of rose petals and tackled Weiss to the ground. "I love you too, Weiss!"

"Get off of me!"

"Oh, yeah, totally," Tenten said flatly as Nora joined the impromptu group hug. "We're all better now."

* * *

 **A/N: As I was writing this, I realized that I was assuming that everyone was as comfortable with each other as they are in the latest chapter of Hunting or Bust. They aren't. It takes a while to build the kind of trust needed to casually insult each other without actually being insulting. So bumi chan, don't worry, they won't be spilling their life stories right out the gate. They will get there eventually, because they're going to be seeing a lot of each other, but it's a ways off. Some things, like Kurama, can be explained so easily because the RWBy kids have no context for it. They don't know the terror and hatred that Kurama inspired, so they won't feel any differently about Naruto. However, my Spanish isn't that great, so I don't know what you were saying about Toneri.**

 **I also realized that I haven't had any comments from Kurama aside from the very first chapter. I'll try to change that, but they won't be anything that the others can hear.**

 **Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and stuck with the story even after a six-month wait. I'll try to keep that as my record for longest wait.**

 **I'm thinking each character will get at least one intro scene from their perspective. I had the idea as I was writing Sasuke's point of view and liked it.**

 **Also, should I do the trailers Master Attlon has for NKTS? He said it was my call, but I want other opinions.**

 **And if you're wondering what Yang was talking about with Weiss's eyes, rewatch Season 1, Episode 4, and pause at 3:16. I was wondering just how bad Jaune was in that scene and saw a comment about it. It'll be the story image for a while.  
**

 **I probably forgot something, but oh well. See you next time.**


End file.
